Personal Injury Practice Areas

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are motorized vehicles commonly known as three wheelers or four wheelers that are used in recreational and work related outdoor activities. Most ATVs are used for riding in natural conditions or “off roading.” Many ATVs can go as fast as 55 MPH and can weigh as heavy as a quarter of a ton.

Thousands of auto accident victims, their families and friends who have suffered a death in the family or sustained serious bodily injuries, pain and suffering and medical bills because of the negligence of another driver have been represented by the lawyers at the Las Vegas law firm Mainor Wirth.

While the percentages of death and serious injury caused by airplane accidents are small, planes are the safest mode for transportation. Airline accidents involve mass casualties and are caused by  pilot error or mechanical problems. The leading causes of commercial airline accidents include engine failures, controlled flight into terrain, approach and landing, loss of control, runway incursions, and weather (including turbulence). Private or “general” aviation plane or helicopter accidents find their causes in controlled flight into terrain, weather, pilot decision-making, loss of control, and runway incursions.

You buy insurance to protect your health, belongings, and businesses. The interests of insurers and insureds diverge when a claim is filed, and it is in the best interest of insurance companies to limit the payments made people that own the policies and are paying the premiums. Insurance fraud and bad faith insurance occur when the goal of limiting compensation for losses violates the intent of the insurance contract. At Mainor Wirth our attorneys have significant experience representing the interests of insureds whose insurance carriers are acting in bad faith.

Here are some facts about cycling injuries across the country:

• There are over 85 million bicycle riders on the road across the country
• Over 800 bicyclists die every year
• Over 540,000 cyclists go to the emergency rooms due to injuries every year.  Of those, approximately 67,000 have head injuries.
• Cycling crashes and injuries are many times not reported
• 2/3 of deaths are from traumatic brain injury—1 in 8 injured cyclist has a brain injury
• A majority of cyclists with brain injuries can be prevented by use of a helmet.
• Half the deaths are from children under 15 years old riding bicycles
• The cost of not using helmets is over 81 million each year—the indirect cost is estimated at over 2.3 billion each year.

There were 12,794,616 registered boats and personal water craft in the United States by 2003. Wake boarding, waterskiing, swimming, jet skiing, fishing, or using personal water craft are the  types of activities that can be dangerous if the people involved are inexperienced or intoxicated. These injuries can include, prop injuries, drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning head injuries, burns, amputations, hypothermia, disfigurement, or collisions where someone is ejected from the water craft. Negligence laws apply to boaters just as they do motor vehicle operators. A majority of boaters are covered by insurance policies that will compensate you for your injuries.

Anyone who has been driving for many years has noticed that our  roadways and highways are becoming much more congested.  Commuters are using public transportation because of this more and more each year. Because there is a growing number of people using buses as their main source of transportation, the number of injuries and deaths resulting from bus accidents increases yearly.

It seems that it is common knowledge that teenagers get into a lot more accidents than adults do, because they have less driving experience.  It is not a coincidence that insurance rates for teenagers are much higher than adults.  Teenagers ten to run a greater risk at making a simple mistake that an adult would know how to handle.  Here are seven driving secrets that you can follow to help avoid unnecessary accidents.

In the legal field professionals are responsible for cases worth up to millions of dollars. When a client retains the services of a professional it is fair to assume that their matter will be handled responsibly and competently. The success or failure of a personal injury law suit depends on the professional handling the lawsuit. Compensation for accident victims and their families in catastrophic injuries or wrongful death matters relies on competent legal representation. If you or your company has suffered damages due to negligence on the part of your lawyer, call a Nevada legal malpractice law firm.

Every year over 65,000 motorcyclists are injured in America. Usually, drivers involved in an accident with motorcycles fail to see the motorcyclists until the moment just before impact.  Motorcycles do not have the kind of protection that cars or trucks have.   This makes motorcyclists particularly vulnerable to severe injuries in accidents. A motorcycle rider or passenger is 5 times more likely to be injured in an accident than the occupant of an automobile.

Physicians have taken an oath to uphold a certain standard of care.  No doctor is perfect, but they should now fall below the appropriate standard of care that they promised to uphold. If a physician or nurse has failed to diagnose or properly treat disease or injury, or has negligently used a defective medical device during the course of your examination or treatment, you should consider consulting a medical malpractice attorney.

In Nevada, when someone has been the victim of a criminal assault, a negligent security attorney will investigate and determine whether the owner of the premises provided appropriate and adequate security where the assault took place. The general common law principle is that there is no duty to protect against harm caused by the criminal act of a third party. The exception is that a duty is imposed to take reasonable measures where such criminal acts are foreseeable.  Negligent security cases generally involve an injury to an individual as a result of a criminal assault or robbery at commercial premises, such as malls, shopping centers, hotels, motels, office buildings, schools, strip clubs or parking garages. A majority of cases arise from strong arm robberies and sexual assaults.

According to the National Traffic Safety Administration 4,461 pedestrians died in 2001 in single vehicle accidents.  Crossing the street can be dangerous, even if you look both ways.

Determining who is at fault in pedestrian accident cases can be difficult. Lawyers must look at a myriad of factors in determining who is at fault and putting together a winning case.

Many people believe that if someone is injured on someone else’s property, then the property owner is responsible.  This is an oversimplification of the law. The issue becomes complex when you begin to explore the many definitions of property, ownership, and of what it means for someone to “visit” the premises. In Nevada it is not automatic for the property owner to be held solely liable for an accident that occurred on the premises, even if the visitor was invited and the hazard is obvious.

In Nevada it is expected that when people make a purchase, they are being provided with products which are safe and free from unreasonable harm or risk of injury. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Because many manufacturers are careless, a product can be defective and consumers can suffer from serious physical injuries due to countless products, such as:

• Children's toys and furniture
• Automobiles and auto parts
• Electronics
• Medications and medical devices
• Household products

In 2008 an article in the Science Daily indicated that roughly 30 percent of all car accidents in the United Stated are rear end collisions, and the yearly cost for treatment of the neck and back is about $8.5 million.

Sometimes semi tractor-trailers collide with smaller vehicles.  When this happens,  the results are often catastrophic. Because tractor trailers are so much larger than passenger vehicles and can weigh up to 20 times as much as an average car when fully loaded, they bring a tremendous amount of force to an accident. The trucking industry is heavily regulated.  Despite this, some drivers and trucking companies find ways to get around the rules and put the  lives of those they share the road with in danger. Large trucking companies and their insurance carriers have an army of attorneys on their side working to reduce the amount of money they pay out to those who have been injured as a result of their negligence.

A school bus is an enormous vehicle.  The size and weight of a bus can mean that it has extreme consequences for the passengers within, most of whom are not provided with restraints or seatbelts. Adding to the danger of passgengers on school buses are unsafe roadways, congestion, drivers who don't understand the rules of the road, improperly trained bus drivers, malfunctioning parts, the list goes on and on.  Nevada school bus accidentscan have a many different of causes. Though many school bus injuries are minor, others are severe. Rollovers, collisions, and other bus accidents can lead to broken bones, brain injury, paralysis, and even death.

People or corporations who own property have an obligation to maintain their premises in a reasonable and safe manner. When malls, grocery stores, apartments, restaurants, and other businesses fail to properly protect visitors from slip and fall or trip and fall accidents, they can be held responsible for the damage caused by their negligence.

Sometimes drivers of SUVs, trucks, or minivans are forced to take evasive action in order to avoid hitting other cars or objects in the road. When they do this, it is possible to rollover their vehicle.  The vehicle designs of some cars have no protections for safety against rollover accidents as required. Such vehicles that do rollover require occupant restraint systems and roof strength so as to protect it occupants yet, sadly, many do not. At Mainor Wirth, our personal injury lawyers work closely with the best automotive engineers and design experts in identifying steps manufacturers should have taken in order to prevent rollovers that injure our clients. The experts work with the lawyers to isolate the causes involved.  In turn we demand financial compensation for our clients’ medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Automobiles share roads and highways with large trucks, and when a large truck is involved in an accident they can often times end in catastrophic results. Truck accidents present a unique challenge not typically found in other types of auto accidents. The trucking companies will hire experts to dispute their liability.  Therefore, it is important to hire various experts to prove the catastrophic injuries are the trucking companies responsibility. Truck accident experts would be consulted regarding liability and reconstruction experts would be called to review the evidence.

Gas tank explosions in motor vehicles cause thousands of people every year to suffer severe physical injuries, which can be fatal. Certain vehicles were designed with side saddle gas tanks, in which the tank is located on the outside of the vehicle's frame, rather than inside the frame which poses a higher risk for an explosion.  A common reason for this is because it does not have the strength and protection of the frame to prevent the tank from being punctured, damaged, or crushed which can ignite the gas and combust.

Airbags are used in preventing deaths.  Much research has documented an airbags effectiveness in a collision. Airbags came into common use during the 1990s, when they became standard on most cars. Unfortunately, many factors can make airbags more dangerous than helpful as these devices were designed to protect an adult of average stature (between 5’3” and 5’11”). But if you are not of the average stature, an airbag can cause serious injury and permanent injuries.

Most people do not know how to properly install car seats for children or infants.  An astounding  80% of car seats are improperly installed due to poor instructions provided with the car seat.  If you’ve ever purchased a car seat, you may have noticed that the instruction manuals are too complicated or unclear lead to improper installation resulting in car seat failure, child injury and death.

The lawyers at Mainor Wirth have years of experience representing families who have lost loved ones due to negligence in cases including:

• Auto accidents
• Semi -truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Premises liability
• Airplane accidents
• Dog bites

Many victims of rape or sexual assault are left feeling that the justice system failed them.  All too often, victims do not even realize that there is more than just a criminal prosecution.  They can also pursue a case in civil court for monetary damages.  When a rape or sexual assault occurs in a mall, parking lot, apartment building, shopping center, dorm, or other commercial area, a victim can file a premises liability claim against the owner of the property or the property management company.  Owners of property under Nevada law have a responsibility to protect people from known risks, or risks that can be foreseen.

The following statistics illustrate how serious dog bites are not only in Las Vegas but nationwide:

• Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States seeks medical attention for a dog bite related injury
• It is estimated for every dog bite that is reported, three go unreported.
• Nationwide, as many as one million people annually require medical treatment for dog bites.
• More than 334,000 victims end up in the emergency room from dog attacks.
• More than 4.7 million people, or 2% of the U.S. population, are bitten by dogs each year.
• More than half of all the dog bite victims are children.

National figures estimate that 60% of dog-bite attacks happen in the home, either by the family or a friend's dog.

When a dog bites and you are injured, it is important to have an experienced personal injury attorney who represents dog bite victims in dog bite lawsuits all over the State of Nevada.  The lawyers at Mainor Wirth Injury Lawyers have handled many of these types of cases.  

If you or a loved one has suffered a dog bite injury, call the lawyers at Mainor Wirth at 702.464.5000 for a free consultation.