No, Nevada is not a no-fault state. Instead, Nevada is a “fault state” for car accidents and personal injury cases in general.
This means your insurance company’s job is to determine who is responsible for the accident and therefore who is legally obligated to pay for the injuries and damages caused.
It is not unusual for accidents to have multiple at-fault parties. Even if you were partly to blame, you can still recover damages in Nevada as long as you were no more than 50% at fault.1
Keep reading to learn more about at-fault laws in Nevada. Also listen to our podcast on the subject:
How is fault determined in Nevada?
Insurance companies consider all the available evidence when determining who is at fault in an accident. With car accidents specifically, insurance carriers take into account:
- Statements by the drivers, passengers, and eyewitnesses;
- Police reports;
- Photographs of the property damage;
- Video surveillance footage:
- Smartphone footage by eyewitnesses;
- Accident reconstruction expert opinions (in rare cases);
- Weather reports;
- Road inspections; and/or
- Reports from the mechanics who last serviced the vehicles.
If you are in a car accident, you are strongly advised against speaking to an insurance adjuster yourself.
Adjusters know how to coax incriminating statements out of unsuspecting accident victims. What you unwittingly utter in the traumatic aftermath of an accident can come back to haunt you during settlement talks or in court.
Instead, you should rely on your Nevada personal injury attorneys to do all the talking.
When if I was partly at fault?
Nevada is a modified comparative negligence state (“shared fault”). This means anyone who is at least 50% responsible for an accident is liable to you even if you share some of the blame (such as by not wearing a seat belt during a car crash).
If a car crash case goes to trial, defendants who are only partially at fault are required to pay less money than defendants who were 100% to blame. For example, a defendant who was apportioned 75% of the fault should pay only 75% of the total damages.2
Note that Nevada tort laws are different from states like California which follow a “pure comparative negligence” model. There, any victim is eligible to recover damages even if they were mostly at fault!
How do I collect damages following a car accident in Nevada?
Following a car accident, you can either:
- file a claim with your own insurance company;
- file a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company; or
- sue the at-fault party in a personal injury lawsuit.
It is highly recommended that you hire a personal injury attorney to bring suit (or at least to engage in aggressive pre-litigation settlement talks in an effort to avoid a lawsuit). This typically results in the highest payout.
An insurance company’s sole focus is to pay out as little as possible whether you are at fault or not. Your Nevada car accident attorney’s job is to hold these insurance companies to task to help ensure you are getting every cent available under the law.
Will my insurance rates go up if I caused a car accident?
If you are less than 50% at fault for your car accident, you should not see your insurance premiums increase. Though if you are found to be at least 50% at fault, your premiums will likely go up.3
In no-fault states, car crash victims typically cannot sue the at-fault parties unless they sustain substantial, permanent injuries such as scarring or organ loss.
Is there a minimum threshold for suing after a car accident?
No. Since Nevada is an at-fault state, you can sue anyone responsible for harming you for any amount – even just $1. The extent of the damage is less important than the principle that everyone should be expected to pay for whatever damages they cause.
This is different from no-fault states like Florida, where there usually is a minimum amount of damages that must be met before you can file a claim against another party’s insurer. The rationale is that people should rely on their private insurance to handle minor claims with no serious injuries rather than engaging in adversarial legal disputes for every single case.
One benefit of no-fault insurance states is that insurers stick to paying out claims rather than investigating who is at fault, which can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. Meanwhile, a benefit of being in an at-fault state like Nevada is that drivers have a greater incentive to be safe since they know they can be sued for even minor damage.
What are Nevada’s mandatory insurance minimums?
To have a vehicle in Nevada, you must carry bodily injury coverage with policy limits of no less than:
- $25,000 per accident for the injury or death of one person,
- $50,000 per accident injuring or killing two or more persons, and
- $20,000 per accident for property damage sustained by others.4
This is just the minimum. You are encouraged to carry as much insurance as you can afford, especially since car accidents can cause catastrophic medical injuries.
Is no-fault insurance available in Nevada?
Yes. In Nevada, liability insurers offer an optional form of no-fault insurance called Medical Payments Coverage (Med Pay). It pays your medical bills regardless of who was at fault for the accident.
Specifically, Med Pay covers the reasonable and necessary medical and funeral expenses (up to the policy limits) of you, your family, and anyone in your vehicle at the time of the accident. Med Pay also covers situations when you or your family are pedestrians and are hit by a vehicle.
Although Med Pay is not required insurance, you are strongly advised to carry it to help fill the gaps of regular liability insurance. You are also advised to carry uninsured/under-insured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage: That way, your insurer is required to pay you in the event the person who crashed into you has no money.
What damages can I get following a car accident?
If you were a victim of an automobile crash, the at-fault driver’s insurance company should reimburse you for both your economic damages as well as non-economic damages.
Economic damages include injuries that are easy to calculate, as the following graphic shows:
Non-economic damages include injuries that are harder to put a price tag on, such as pain and suffering.
What should I do following a car accident in Nevada?
If possible, take these five steps after a vehicle collision:
- Remain at the scene. If you are in a car crash where someone is hurt, stay put and exchange names and insurance information with the other involved drivers. Otherwise, you risk getting arrested for hit and run. Though if you are blocking traffic, move to a safe area if you can.
- Call for help. Seek medical assistance for any victims and yourself by calling 911. Also contact the police so they can make a detailed report of what happened. The report should also include all the basic information, such as the date, address, time of day, and names of the involved parties.
- Document everything. Preserve any evidence you can by taking photographs and video of the scene (especially of any car damage, tire/skid marks on the ground, and road problems such as potholes) and by gathering contact information of eyewitnesses. Or ask other people there to take pictures if you are unable to. Write down the vehicle information of the other cars involved (make/model/etc.), and record your impressions of what happened – including the weather and road conditions – since memories fade quickly.
- DO NOT ADMIT FAULT. The most important thing is not to take blame. You may think you violated a traffic rule by speeding or failing to signal, but you could be wrong. Also, do not say to anyone that you are unhurt. You may very well have injuries that manifest after the fact.
- Lawyer up. Contact a personal injury attorney and report the accident to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles if there was bodily injury or property damage totaling $750 or more.
See our related article, 10 critical steps to take after a Nevada car accident.
In Nevada, at-fault drivers are responsible for any accidents they cause, from minor fender benders to catastrophic car wrecks.
Is Nevada a no-fault divorce state?
Unlike with personal injury cases, Nevada is a no-fault divorce state. A no-fault divorce does not require you to accuse the other spouse of any wrongdoing in order to file for a divorce. You can simply state that you two no longer get along.
Before the implementation of no-fault divorce, one spouse was required to prove that the other spouse was at fault for the demise of the marriage. Now, no-fault divorces are granted in situations of:
- Incompatibility;
- Irreconcilable differences;
- Irretrievable breakdown of a marriage; or
- Showing that you and your spouse have been separated for a minimum of 12 months.
However, fault can still be considered when determining property divisions or awarding alimony.5
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to the following scholarly articles:
- The Case for No-Fault Insurance – Mississippi Law Journal.
- No-Fault Automobile Insurance: An Evaluative Survey – Rutgers Law Review.
- No-Fault Automobile Insurance: A Success or Failure after Eleven Years – Insurance Counsel Journal.
- No-Fault Auto Insurance: Back by Popular (Market) Demand – San Diego Law Review.
- Giving Motorists a Choice between Fault and No-Fault Insurance – Virginia Law Review.
Legal References
- See, for example, Humphries v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court of State, (2013) 129 Nev. 788. NRS 41.141. See also Raspperry v. State (2022) .
- NRS 41.141.
- NRS 687B.385. State, Div. of Ins. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., (2000) 116 Nev. 290, 995 P.2d 482.
- Insurance, Nevada DMV.
- NRS 125.010.
