There are 23 elevators and 48 escalators on the Las Vegas Strip, and of course, there are hundreds more of each inside—and outside—buildings all over the city. What all these machines have in common, though, is that they all require regular maintenance and upkeep to work properly. A lack of appropriate care by landowners in Sin City can sometimes lead to visitors suffering serious and even life-threatening accidents.
If you were recently hurt in an elevator or escalator accident in Las Vegas, you should get in touch with a lawyer from Shook & Stone as soon as possible. While you may have valid grounds to file a lawsuit over this sort of accident, getting a favorable result from a slip and fall claim can be difficult without support from a knowledgeable legal professional.
How Valuable Could an Elevator/Escalator Accident Claim Be?
While getting caught up in an accident caused by a defective escalator or elevator is virtually always a traumatic experience, the only thing that affects the financial value of an ensuing lawsuit or settlement demand is how bad the injuries stemming from the incident are. This is because the purpose of personal injury litigation is not to give you an arbitrary amount of money as an apology, but instead to reimburse you for specific losses you have sustained—and often, will sustain in the future—because of another person’s misconduct.
Specific damages that often come into play during elevator and escalator injury cases in Las Vegas include:
- Medical expenses
- Lost work income or working ability
- Personal property damage/loss
- Physical pain and discomfort
- Emotional anguish and trauma
- Lost overall enjoyment of life and other effects of permanent disfigurement/disability
Among other things, your dedicated attorney from Shook & Stone can explain what losses you may be able to seek recovery for during a free initial consultation.
Getting Around Common Procedural Obstacles
Your legal representative can also help ensure that restrictions placed on personal injury claims by Nevada state law do not unfairly impede your pursuit of compensation. To start with, they can help build and file the strongest possible claim within the filing deadline set by the statute of limitations, which is usually two years after the date on which your injury actually occurred.
On top of that, a Las Vegas lawyer can fight back against allegations that you were at fault for your elevator or escalator injury because you were negligent in some way. This can be crucial to keeping you from being assigned a percentage of comparative fault by the court overseeing your case, which in turn could lead to your final damage award being reduced by that same percentage or even to your case being thrown out of court altogether.
Discuss Legal Options With a Las Vegas Attorney After an Elevator or Escalator Accident
Modern elevators and escalators are deceptively complex pieces of machinery, and even a small fault or malfunction can have very big consequences for anyone using the machine when the error happens. Fortunately, just like with other types of hazardous property conditions, you may be able to demand comprehensive compensation from the landowner(s) or property manager(s) who failed to keep you safe by keeping these devices in good working order.
At Shook & Stone, we have years of experience helping people like you get paid fairly for accidents like yours all over the state of Nevada. Call today to get started on your possible claim over an elevator or escalator accident in Las Vegas.
