Personal injury attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada, regularly meet with people injured in casinos. The owners, managers, and staffs of casino hotels have a legal duty to maintain safe environments for their guests. When they do nothing or not enough to mitigate foreseeable hazards, victims have a right to seek compensation for the harm they suffered. Speaking with a Vegas injury lawyer will inform you about whether you have a viable claim for damages. Until then, take the following actions after a casino injury to protect your financial interests and legal rights.

Report Your Accident
You should report what happened to management. You or a companion can alert a staff member to your accident and ask for a manager.

Once you connect with a member of management, ask the person to make a report documenting the time and location of your accident. Make sure that it does not say anything about putting fault for the accident on you, especially if you are asked to sign it.

Request a copy for yourself. Most companies will have a standard form for making an incident report because accidents and medical emergencies within casino hotels occur regularly.

Do Not Accept Any Immediate Offers to Compensate You

When you report your accident and injury, a manager may offer you something nice, like a free meal or room, to compensate for what happened. Although you may be tempted to accept, politely decline, as you do not want to risk the gift being interpreted as settling your damages.

Similarly, a manager may ask you to sign something releasing the company from liability. Do not sign documents like this because that action could endanger your ability to collect damages. You are much better off learning who is financially responsible for your damages from an injury lawyer in Las Vegas.

Someone from the casino’s liability insurance may contact you about the accident, and that representative may try to get you to admit fault or accept a financial settlement. Any settlement offer received at this early stage could be an attempt to resolve the accident for far less money than you deserve. As with any accident, especially if looking at high medical expenses or disability, no settlement should be accepted without advice from a Vegas injury lawyer.

Get Medical Attention
A medic employed by the casino hotel might be the first person to attend to your injuries. Alternatively, an ambulance may be called for you. Either way, it is important that you receive a complete medical evaluation. If you are not taken to a hospital, go to an urgent care or emergency department.

Accident cases revolve around the nature of your injuries, what caused them, and what expenses you incurred. Immediate medical care is vital for your recovery, but your legal case will need documentation about your medical treatment at the time of the accident. The medical records on the day of your accident start the paper trail for your insurance claim or lawsuit.

Talk to Witnesses
Unless you suffer an accident alone in your room, people may be present when you get hurt. The public areas of casino hotels tend to be busy, so you may have a chance to collect contact information from witnesses. Statements provided by witnesses could aid your claim for damages, especially if the defendant disputes your version of events.

Gather Photographic Evidence

Photographic evidence can be very compelling in an accident case. For a casino accident, get images of the area where you were hurt and the source of your injury, if possible. For example, images of a very crowded pool area could support the claim that the pool was over capacity when drowning or near drowning occurred.

However, picture-taking in casinos has been traditionally discouraged. This is especially true in the gaming areas, but the constant presence of smartphone cameras has made security less strict because guests tend to take selfies and group photos. If you need to collect images in a gaming area, you should be discreet and act quickly. Other areas of the resort, like the lobby, sidewalks, or your room, should be easier to photograph.

Also, take pictures of your injuries as soon as possible after the event. Some injury photos can be quite graphic, and these images will help prove your injury’s severity, especially if your case ends up in front of a jury.

Discuss Your Casino Accident With a Vegas Injury Lawyer
You cannot rely on what casino management or an insurance company tells you. Only personal injury attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada, can provide an independent assessment of your legal right to damages. Even if you are being offered a settlement, you still want a legal evaluation because you may need to be made aware of every type of loss that qualifies for payment by the responsible party.

Common Las Vegas Casino Accidents
Las Vegas casinos host millions of visitors every year, many encountering the same hazards. As a result, most casino injuries fall into these categories:

• Slip-and-falls – Wet floors, malfunctioning elevators, and uneven floors trip people. Injuries can range from minor to disabling. Falls can also result from shoddy furniture.
• Food poisoning – Food handling mistakes and poor sanitation introduce microbes into foods. You could quickly end up in a hospital if you eat something contaminated.
• Bed bug exposure – Hotels must constantly guard against bed bugs. Their bites could cause allergic reactions, or you could carry them home and infest your house.
• Shuttle-bus accidents – These can occur in traffic or when people are getting on and off the bus.
• Swimming pool accidents – This category includes slip-and-falls, chemical burns from botched water sanitation procedures, and drownings.
• Assaults – Inadequate security creates situations where brawls break out, or people get sexually assaulted.
• Burns – Dangerously hot water in a shower can result from setting a hot water heater too high.

Possible Sources of Compensation
An injury lawyer in Las Vegas will investigate who acted negligently. The mistake could be the result of systemic failure, negligent third-party service providers, or the actions of a single employee.

The fault for your injury could be the:

• Casino owner or management
• Property owner
• Casino employee
• Casino contractor, like a security or shuttle operator
• Casino’s parent company
• The company that made a defective product

Injuries caused by inattentive, incompetent, or hostile employees may place liability on the employer because the company has a duty to train and supervise employees appropriately. An employer also must screen potential employees adequately, and someone with a criminal history given duties that could put people at risk represents negligent hiring.

Free Consultation at Moss Berg Injury Lawyers
Casino injury cases can be complex, and you could face accusations that you were at fault for what happened. Personal injury attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Moss Berg know how to defend injury victims and track down all sources of compensation. It costs nothing to have a conversation with us about what to do after getting hurt at a casino. Contact our office right now.