Broadly speaking, the goal of most U.S. legal proceedings is to acknowledge wrongdoing and rectify it by punishing the party at fault (defendant). Now, for personal injury claims, the “punishment” in question is a monetary settlement to be paid to the claimant (plaintiff), not a criminal charge or prison sentence. The defendant in a personal injury case can be an individual, an insurance company, a business, or even a government entity. 

There are some concepts that are recognized across the country, but for the most part, personal injury litigation is just like all other fields of law in that it differs from state to state. This is one of the biggest reasons why claimants should seek qualified legal counsel, so that there are no discrepancies as far as compliance or argument. Perhaps the most important rule to remember for Nevada state courts is referred to as modified comparative negligence. 

Simply put, modified comparative negligence means that all parties may be found at least partially liable, not just the defendant. To give an example, let’s say that Jim is injured in an accident by John. Jim sues John, and the court decides to award Jim $10,000 in damages; however, the fault is distributed 75-25. Since Jim was found to be 25 percent liable, his settlement will be reduced by the same amount (25 percent), and would come out to $7,500. Claimants should note that any party with 50 percent or more of the blame will not receive any compensation.