Personal Injury Lawyer FAQs With Sam & Ash Injury Law: The Two Parts of Every Injury Case, and Why We Listen First

Published December 07, 2022 • Updated October 5, 2026 • Reflects Nevada and California law as of this date.

Every personal injury case comes down to two questions:

Liability: who caused your injury, and how much of the blame do they carry?

Damages: what did the injury actually cost you, in money, in health and in the life you had before? Insurers work hard to shrink both. Our job is to prove both, and we can’t prove what you lost until we take the time to learn who you are.

Key takeaways

• Your case has two halves, and they matter equally. Winning on fault means little if your losses are undercounted.
• Sharing some blame doesn’t automatically sink your claim. In Nevada, you can recover as long as your share of fault isn’t greater than the defendants’ combined share (NRS 41.141). In California, you can recover even if you were mostly at fault (Li v. Yellow Cab Co.).
• Damages are more than medical bills. Pain, lost sleep, anxiety and the things you can’t do anymore all count (CACI 3905A).
• A file can’t tell your story. The lawyer who never really listens to you will leave money on the table.
• The clock is running. Two years for most injury lawsuits in Nevada and California, and as little as six months to file a claim against a California public agency.

In Sam’s words: “Your case consists of two parts”

In the video above, Sam & Ash partner Sam Mirejovsky explains what every injured person should understand before talking to an insurer, or to a lawyer:

Your case consists of two parts legally. There’s liability, which is the whodunit, right? Who’s responsible, and how responsible are they? In liability, we talk about percentages and comparative fault and all that, but it’s basically, ‘who’s responsible for your injury?’ is liability. But the other part, which is as important of an element in your case, is your damages, right? How hurt are you? What was your loss that you suffered? How are we, or any lawyers, supposed to know what happened to you if we don’t take the time to get to know you, and to listen to you, to hear you out, to walk a mile in your shoes?

— Sam Mirejovsky, Partner, Sam & Ash Injury Law

That last question is the one most firms skip. It’s the one we build our cases on.

Part one: Liability, or “the whodunit”

Liability answers a simple question with complicated proof: who is legally responsible for what happened to you, and how responsible are they?

Sometimes it looks obvious. A driver runs a red light. A casino leaves a spill on the floor for an hour. But “obvious” is the first thing an insurer will try to take apart. Expect to hear that you were speeding, distracted, wearing the wrong shoes or should have seen it coming. Every point of blame they shift onto you is money they don’t have to pay.

How fault works in Nevada

Nevada uses modified comparative negligence. Your own carelessness doesn’t bar recovery as long as it wasn’t greater than the negligence of the parties you’re suing (NRS 41.141(1)). If you can recover, your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault.

Here’s what that looks like on a $100,000 claim:

• You’re 20% at fault: you can recover $80,000.
• You’re 50% at fault: you can still recover $50,000, because 50% isn’t greater than the other side’s 50%.
• You’re 51% at fault: you recover nothing.

One percentage point can be the difference between a real recovery and a zero. When there’s more than one defendant, Nevada compares your fault against their combined fault. In ordinary negligence cases, each defendant generally pays only its own share (NRS 41.141). That’s why finding every responsible party early is so important.

How fault works in California

California follows pure comparative negligence. The California Supreme Court adopted this rule in its 1975 decision in Li v. Yellow Cab Co.. Since then, an injured person’s own negligence reduces their recovery in proportion to their fault but doesn’t wipe it out. Even if you were 70% at fault, you can recover the other 30%.

Takeaway: Never admit fault at the scene, to an adjuster or on social media. Let the evidence, not the insurer’s theory, decide the percentages.

Part two: Damages, or “how hurt are you?”

Liability gets most of the attention, but damages are, in Sam’s words, just as important an element of your case. You can prove the other side was 100% at fault and still walk away underpaid if nobody did the work to show what the injury cost you.

Nevada law makes the person who causes an injury through a wrongful act or neglect liable to the injured person for damages (NRS 41.130). In practice, damages fall into two buckets.

Economic damages are the losses with a receipt attached:

• Past and future medical care, therapy and medication
• Lost wages and lost ability to earn in the future
• Out-of-pocket costs like travel to appointments, home help or property damage

Non-economic damages are the losses no bill captures. California’s standard civil jury instruction lists the following harms (CACI 3905A):

• Physical pain and mental suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Disfigurement and physical impairment
• Inconvenience
• Grief, anxiety and humiliation
• Emotional distress

The same instruction tells jurors there’s no fixed standard for valuing these losses.

“No fixed standard” cuts both ways. It means your pain isn’t capped by a formula. It also means nobody will value it correctly unless someone puts the evidence in front of them.

Why we “walk a mile in your shoes”

An adjuster sees a claim number, a diagnosis code and a stack of bills. That’s the version of you the insurance company wants to pay for.

The real version is different. It’s the mechanic who can’t grip a wrench without pain. The grandmother who stopped picking up her grandkids. The nurse who now panics every time she merges onto I-15. None of it shows up in a billing code. All of it is part of what you lost.

So before we ever put a number on a case, we ask questions most people have never been asked by a lawyer:

• What did a normal day look like before you were hurt? What does it look like now?
• What have you stopped doing, at work, at home and for fun?
• How are you sleeping? How’s your mood? Who’s helping you that didn’t have to before?
• What are you afraid this injury will take from you down the road?

Then we turn those answers into evidence. That includes:

• Medical records and opinions from your treating providers
• Wage documentation
• Journals and photos
• The people who knew you before the injury and can describe the change

Takeaway: If your lawyer has never asked you how your life has changed, they can’t prove it. You shouldn’t have to wonder whether anyone is listening.

What insurers count on

Every dollar an insurer saves on your claim is a dollar it keeps.

The law recognizes the temptation. Nevada’s insurance code calls it an unfair claims practice to fail to make prompt, fair and equitable settlements once liability has become reasonably clear (NRS 686A.310). California has a similar list of prohibited practices (Cal. Ins. Code § 790.03).

Insurers still count on you taking the first offer out of exhaustion, before you know what your injury will cost a year from now. We don’t let that happen.

What to do after you’re hurt

1. Get medical care right away, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline hides injuries, and treatment gaps are the first thing an insurer exploits.
2. Follow through on treatment. Keep every appointment and keep copies of every bill.
3. Document your daily life. A short journal of pain, sleep, missed work and missed moments becomes powerful damages evidence.
4. Preserve evidence: photos, witness names, the police or incident report and any video before it’s erased.
5. Don’t give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer, and don’t sign anything before you get advice.
6. Talk to a lawyer before you settle. Once you accept a settlement and sign a release, you generally can’t come back for more.

Personal Injury FAQ

Your story is the evidence. Let’s tell it right.

Insurers want your case to be a number on a spreadsheet. We want the jury, the adjuster and anyone else holding the checkbook to understand exactly what was taken from you. That starts with listening. Whether your case is worth $15,000 or $1.5 million, you get the same fight. The first conversation is free, and you pay no fees unless we win.

Learn more about our Nevada personal injury practice and our California personal injury practice.

• Nevada: 702-820-1234

· California: 949-304-2000

· Request a free case review

Injured and getting the runaround? Call us. The first conversation is free.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and reflects Nevada and California law as of October 5, 2026. Every case depends on its own facts. Reading this does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.