If you were hurt on someone else’s property in Nevada, there is a legal name for the kind of claim you might have. It is called premises liability. The name sounds technical but the concept is simple. Property owners have a legal duty to keep their property reasonably safe for the people they invite onto it. When they fail at that duty and someone is injured, the person who got hurt can sue for the resulting damages.
This guide explains what premises liability actually means under Nevada law, who can bring a premises claim, what the property owner has to have done wrong, what kinds of compensation a Nevada premises claim can recover, and how to tell whether your particular situation has the elements of a real case.
The Basic Definition of Premises Liability
For broader context on Nevada premises liability law and how Bourassa Law Group approaches these cases, see our Las Vegas premises liability attorney page.
Premises liability is the area of personal injury law that holds property owners financially responsible for injuries caused by unsafe conditions on their property. The unsafe condition can be physical, a wet floor with no warning sign, a broken stair, an unlit parking garage stairwell, or it can be a failure to protect visitors from foreseeable harm caused by third parties, such as an assault in a casino with documented prior security incidents.
Every premises liability case has four elements that the injured person needs to prove:
- The property owner owed a duty of care to the injured person
- The property owner breached that duty by acting negligently or failing to act when they should have
- The breach caused the injury
- The injury resulted in real damages
If any one of these four elements is missing, the case does not succeed. Most premises liability disputes turn on the second element, whether the owner actually breached the duty.
Who the Property Owner Owes a Duty To Under Nevada Law
Nevada uses a status-based framework to define how much care a property owner owes to different types of visitors. The framework is inherited from common law and is still the governing rule in Nevada premises cases today.
Invitees are people on the property for a purpose connected to the owner’s business or interests. Customers at a store, guests at a hotel, casino patrons, tenants in an apartment building, and contractors hired to perform work are all invitees. The owner owes invitees the highest duty of care, which means the owner has to inspect the property for hidden dangers, fix or warn about anything found, and take reasonable steps to protect against foreseeable third-party harm.
Licensees are people on the property with the owner’s permission but for the licensee’s own purposes. A social guest at a private home is the most common example. The owner has to warn licensees about known dangers but does not have to inspect for new ones.
Trespassers are people on the property without permission. Under NRS 41.515, an owner generally owes no duty of care to a trespasser and is not liable for injuries the trespasser suffers. Two narrow exceptions apply, willful or wanton conduct by the owner, and failure to exercise reasonable care once the owner actually discovers the trespasser is in danger.
If you were hurt while at a place you had a right to be, a casino, a hotel, a store, a restaurant, your own apartment building, your friend’s house, you were almost certainly an invitee or licensee. The owner owed you some level of care. The question is how much, and whether they met that standard.
What Counts as the Property Owner’s Negligence
The legal standard for property-owner negligence is whether a reasonable owner in the same situation would have done something differently. The standard is contextual. A small grocery store does not owe the same level of inspection as a major Las Vegas Strip resort. But within each context, the standard is real and measurable.
Common examples of property-owner negligence Nevada lawyers see in premises cases:
- A casino fails to clean up a spilled drink for thirty minutes and a patron slips
- A hotel ignores complaints about a broken handrail and a guest falls
- A parking garage operator lets stairwell lights go out and never replaces them, creating an attack opportunity
- An apartment management company knows about prior shootings in the courtyard and does nothing to add security
- A retail store leaves merchandise stacked unstably and it falls on a shopper
- A mall security contractor fails to staff a known high-risk area during peak hours
- A pool operator does not enforce the required lifeguard ratio under NRS 444.040
In each of these scenarios, the question is not whether something bad happened. Bad things happen on commercial property every day. The question is whether the owner did the reasonable things a similar owner would have done to prevent the harm.
The Two Big Categories of Nevada Premises Cases
Most Nevada premises liability claims fall into one of two broad categories. The proof requirements differ between them.
Physical-condition cases. A dangerous physical condition on the property caused the injury. The classic example is a slip-and-fall on a wet floor. The plaintiff has to prove that the owner either created the condition, knew about it and failed to fix it, or should have known about it through reasonable inspection. A wet floor that has been there for thirty seconds is harder to win on than a wet floor that has been there for thirty minutes. Time-on-floor evidence is central to slip-and-fall cases.
Negligent-security cases. A third party criminally harmed the visitor, and the owner failed to take reasonable security precautions against the foreseeable risk. The headline Nevada statutory authority is NRS 651.015, which governs lodging keeper liability for non-employee criminal acts. The two elements are foreseeability (the risk was on the owner’s notice) and reasonable precautions (the owner failed to take measures a reasonable owner would have taken given the risk). Prior similar incidents at the property are the most important foreseeability evidence.
What Damages Are Recoverable in a Nevada Premises Case
If you prove all four elements of a premises claim, Nevada law allows recovery for several categories of damages.
Economic damages. Medical bills already incurred, future medical expenses for serious injuries, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity, and out-of-pocket consequential expenses.
Non-economic damages. Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement. Nevada does not cap non-economic damages in standard premises cases.
Punitive damages. Available under NRS 42.005 when the property owner acted with malice, oppression, or fraud. Knowing failure to address prior similar incidents, active concealment of safety problems, and willful disregard for visitor safety can support a punitive submission. Punitive damages are capped at three times compensatory damages or $300,000, whichever is greater.
Comparative fault. Nevada uses modified comparative negligence under NRS 41.141 with a 50% bar. If the jury finds the injured person 51% or more at fault for their own injury, recovery is zero. At 50% or less, damages are reduced proportionally. Property owners and their insurers always try to put fault on the plaintiff. Strong liability evidence keeps the comparative-fault number low.
How to Tell If You Have a Real Premises Liability Case
Walk through these questions about your situation. If you answer yes to all of them, you should consult a Nevada premises lawyer.
- Were you on the property with permission (as a customer, guest, tenant, contractor, or invited visitor)?
- Was there an unsafe condition on the property, or did a foreseeable criminal act occur on a property with a known risk?
- Was the unsafe condition something the owner created, knew about, should have known about, or failed to take reasonable precautions against?
- Did the unsafe condition or security failure cause your injury?
- Did the injury result in actual harm, medical treatment, lost work, pain, ongoing functional impairment?
The strength of a premises case depends on the evidence available to prove each element. The most important evidence often disappears within days of the incident, surveillance video on a 30-day cycle, security incident reports filed and then archived, witness contact information that becomes harder to track. Early consultation with a premises lawyer preserves the case.
When to Talk to a Nevada Premises Liability Attorney
If you were injured on someone else’s property in Nevada and you are unsure whether you have a case, the cost of asking a premises lawyer is zero. Most Nevada premises firms, including the Bourassa Law Group, offer free case evaluations and handle premises cases on contingency. No fee unless you recover.
The statute of limitations for a Nevada premises liability claim is two years from the date of injury under NRS 11.190(4)(e). The clock starts running the day you were hurt. Claims against government property owners require a 6-month notice of claim before suit can be filed. Both deadlines are unforgiving. Once they pass, the claim is gone regardless of merit.
If you are in the period when evidence is still recoverable and witnesses are still findable, the strongest version of your case is available. The longer you wait, the harder the case gets.
Call 800-870-8910 for a free consultation with the Bourassa Law Group. We handle premises liability cases throughout Las Vegas, Henderson, Reno, and the rest of Nevada.
Related Reading
• How to Sue a Hotel for Injury in Las Vegas
1-800-870-8910