After getting into a car accident I called Barbara and it was the best decision I ever made. She is amazing! I couldn’t have asked for a better lawyer to represent me. She got me the best settlement to pay back my medi...
The fight with insurance companies is just as hard as fighting for your life after an accident. As long as you dont give up on yourself Barbara will fight for you. The staff at Kidwell and Gallagher were great as well. I...
These two are specialists in two related fields, personal injury and workmen’s comp. Both they and their staff were VERY responsive to me and my questions, and handled my case with patience and competence. I would,...
I feel like kidwell & Gallagher went above and beyond for me. Craig himself and his staff are so nice and helpful. I would highly recommend this law office for your workmans comp/injury needs. You will not be disappo...
The best place to go if you need good hometown lawyers. They are very informative and kept us updated on what was going to happen through out our case.
Was the best experience, we told them the problem and they took over everything, was such a relief. Always there to answer any questions and help is fast is possible.
I was at my job mountain crew changes there in the basement of kidwell and Gallagher
They weren’t able to help with my case, but they directed me to someone who could.
After a car accident, one of the first things people check is whether law enforcement handed out a citation. The experienced car accident attorneys at Kidwell & Gallagher Injury Lawyers hear this concern regularly, and the reality surprises most people.
If no ticket is issued, car accident situations still carry full legal weight in Nevada. The absence of a citation does not erase fault, strip away your right to compensation, or shut down an injury claim. A traffic citation is not required to prove fault in a personal injury case, and the responsible driver can still be held accountable based on the present evidence.
No, the absence of a ticket does not determine fault in a Nevada personal injury claim.
Many crash victims walk away from the scene believing their case collapsed the moment an officer declined to write a citation. That belief costs people real compensation. In Nevada, a personal injury claim and a traffic citation follow entirely separate tracks.
Officers respond to accidents under pressure and often arrive well after the collision occurs. Their job at the scene centers on safety and basic documentation. The officer may decline to issue a ticket, not because no one caused the crash, but because the threshold for a criminal or traffic charge was not met.
Nevada law gives injured people meaningful tools to build a fault case even when no citation changes hands. The evidence carrying the most weight in these claims consistently comes from the same reliable sources:
Distracted driving, failure to yield, aggressive lane changes, and tailgating all leave traces in vehicle data, road markings, and witness accounts. Those behaviours carry a real weight while building a claim, even though no ticket documents them.
Nevada follows a shared fault system under NRS 41.141, which allows an injured person to recover compensation as long as they bear no more than 50 percent of the blame for the crash, even if no ticket is issued after a car accident.
When injuries cross the threshold of what basic insurance covers, the at-fault driver’s liability exposure becomes the point of your case, citation or not. Insurance companies understand this framework. In fact, adjusters often use the absence of a ticket as leverage to undervalue or deny claims.
One of the most persistent myths is that a citation automatically determines who pays. Without a ticket, the thinking goes, the injured party has no case. Both misread how Nevada law actually works.
Nevada’s traffic laws, including NRS 484A.660, give officers authority to cite drivers for violations they personally witness at the scene. Traffic authority covers offenses, not the broader question of a driver’s reasonable care.
Another common point of confusion involves the difference between a citation and other forms of official legal notice. For anyone working through these concepts, our related post, Is a Citation a Ticket? Understanding the Key Differences breaks down exactly how these terms apply in Nevada.
At Kidwell & Gallagher Injury Lawyers, we build car accident cases on facts, not field decisions. We gather crash reports, secure surveillance footage, consult reconstruction professionals, and push back when insurers treat a missing citation as a reason to close your file.
Contact our car accident attorneys today for a free consultation. Call (775) 323-2667 to speak with our team and learn exactly where your claim stands.
Craig W. Kidwell is the managing partner of Kidwell & Gallagher, Ltd., and exclusively represents injured workers in Nevada. Mr. Kidwell has been practicing workers’ compensation law in Nevada since 1999 and has acted as lead counsel on over 2,000 contested workers’ compensation claims. Mr. Kidwell represents injured workers in Nevada through all stages of Nevada’s complex worker’s compensation system. Craig regularly appears in all levels of Nevada’s administrative workers’ compensation system and has represented injured workers in Nevada’s districts and Supreme Court.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by Managing Partner, Craig W. Kidwell who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a personal injury attorney.