We are excited to announce our participation in the annual Las Vegas Toys for Tots donation program, where needy families in our community receive new, unwrapped toys for the holidays. From now until December 14, we are accepting toys that will be distributed to less fortunate families in our community.

Toys for Tots is run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve. According to the Toys for Tots website (found here), Toys for Tots began in 1947, when Major Bill Hendricks and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. Since it’s inception, Toys for Tots has distributed more than 400 million toys to more than 188 million needy children. We are proud to be a part of this charity event, and you can contribute by bringing new, unwrapped toys to our office (1389 Galleria Drive, Suite 110, Henderson, 89014).

If you have never heard of “med pay”  as it relates to car insuranced, or you have and aren’t exactly sure what it is, you’ve come to the right place. Medical payments coverage, or “med pay” for short, is an option on auto insurance that is an insurance company’s best-kept secret. Insurance companies aren’t jumping at the chance to offer you med pay because it is a great deal for the consumer, and not such great deal for the insurance companies. For as little as $20 a year, med pay covers all your medical expenses in the event of an accident. No wonder your insurance agent left that out.

Medical payments coverage states that if you or anyone else gets hurt from using your vehicle, your insurance company will pay medical expenses up to a certain amount—regardless of fault. Med pay is usually sold in $1,000 or $5,000 increments—and it covers any and all passengers in your vehicle.  Even better, if you and any members of your family are in an accident in someone else’s car, you’re still covered.

Check your automobile’s declaration page to find out if you are covered for med pay. Or even better, call us and ask for Janice. She will give you the opportunity to come into the office and go over your declaration page with you- at absolutely no cost to you. Trust us- it’s worth the time!

You can reach Janice at Nettles Law firm at (702) 434-8282.

The weather is warming up and it’s time to fire up the grill! The barbeque is a summer staple, but can also be a safety risk. Liquid petroleum gas or propane, used in gas grills, is highly flammable. Every year people are injured as a result of gas grill fires and explosions, especially when grills have been left idle for an extended period of time. Here are some tips for staying safe while firing up the grill:

• Check grill hoses for cracking, brittleness, holes, and leaks. Make sure there are no sharp bends in the hose or tubing.
• Move gas hoses as far away as possible from hot surfaces and dripping hot grease. If you can’t move the hoses, install a heat shield to protect them.
• Replace scratched or nicked connectors, which can eventually leak gas.
• Check for gas leaks, following the manufacturer’s instructions, if you smell gas or when you reconnect the grill to the LP gas container.
• Keep lighted cigarettes, matches, or open flames away from a leaking grill.
• Charcoal grills can even pose a threat to your safety. Charcoal produces carbon monoxide (CO) when it is burned. CO is a colorless, odorless gas that can accumulate to toxic levels in closed environments.

If your grill uses charcoal:

• Never burn charcoal inside of homes, vehicles, tents, or campers. Charcoal should never be used indoors, even if ventilation is provided.
• Since charcoal produces CO fumes until the charcoal is completely extinguished, do not store the grill indoors with freshly used coals.
• Keep children and pets away from the grill area.
• Keep your grill clean by removing grease or fat buildup from the grills and in trays below the grill.

Read more grill safety tips here.

Road rage is the informal name for deliberately dangerous and/ or violent behavior under the influence of heightened emotion such as anger and frustration, behind the wheel. Road rage can quickly escalate if dangerous drivers exit their cars and threaten physical violence. Environmental conditions like traffic congestion, another’s dangerous driving, and time constraints are the main factors associated with road rage. If you happen upon someone in a fit of road rage, here are some things to remember.

• Whatever you do, don’t retaliate against someone’s road rage.
• Don’t make eye contact with another angry driver.
• If an angry driver follows you, never drive home. Drive directly to a police station.
• Always be courteous toward other drivers, even when they are not.

Most importantly, reduce your own driving stress by always giving yourself enough time to get where you are going. Allow extra time for bad weather conditions and construction delays. Always be patient, respectful, and keep your cool on the road.

Las Vegas was recently ranked the 11th riskiest online city in the United States. We are more connected online than ever, and it’s easy to become a victim of identity theft over social media and e-commerce. Luckily, the best way to stay safe online is by using common sense.

Identity theft occurs when someone steals your personal data for their own personal gain. This data usually takes the form of cancelled checks, a social security number, a driver’s license number, a consumer’s address of record, a birth date, or a credit card/credit card statement. With your personal information, thieves can open a new credit card under your name, open a new line of credit at your bank, get a new driver’s license, a new social security card, or acquire wireless accounts under your name. Here are some steps you can take to protect yourself online:

• Avoid public Wi-Fi spots, especially when accessing your financial information.
• Keep your social security number confidential. Your social security number is the key that unlocks all personal information.
• Keep your mail safe by protecting the personal information mailed to you by banks and shredding old mail.
• Get off credit marketing lists. Thieves steal mailings and apply for credit in your name.
• Memorize your passwords and pins, and don’t leave them where someone can find them.
• When inputting credit card information, the address bar should change from “http” to “https” or “shttp.”

When you slip and fall in a public place, the question of negligence is always raised. The million dollar question is did someone’s actions fall below a standard of care for your safety, which then caused you harm? If the answer is “yes,” there is still a defense, called the “open and obvious” defense, so the rule isn’t exactly (pardon the pun) open and obvious.

If you are injured and the court considers the dangerous conditions “open and obvious,” then the property owner is absolved of liability. The rule implies that the open and obvious nature of the dangerous situation serves as a warning to you, therefore you should recognize the danger and take steps to avoid it. However, even open and obvious risks can be unreasonably dangerous, and when they are, the invitor has to take special measures to protect you.

Here’s the test for what’s “open and obvious”:  whether “an average user with ordinary intelligence would have been able to discover the danger and the risk presented upon casual inspection.” Wet floor, black ice, potholes… all potentially “open & obvious,” depending on the scenario. Sounds precarious… and not as open and obvious as you may think.

Hot Coffee the movie debuted last week, and has received an overwhelmingly positive response from the public. The creators of Hot Coffee posted the following on their website:

“More than 40,000 people have visited our website in the last 2 days; and almost a thousand people have contacted us, through email, Facebook andTwitter. They say the movie has opened their eyes, changed their preconceptions, made them mad about their rights being taken away, and made them want to take action to get them back. Out of all the emails, and posts, and tweets, we’ve received exactly two negative emails complaining about ‘trial lawyers’!”

In addition to exposing the facts of the famous McDonald’s coffee case, the film also covers caps on damages, the buying of judicial elections, and mandatory arbitration clauses. The film shows victims who have been given limited access to the court system and limited access to justice, as a result.

If you were inspired by the film, here is how Hot Coffee says you can take steps to get into the action:

“So now, let’s all do everything we can from signing up for Action Alerts, to joining The Civil Justice Project, to suggesting Susan Saladoff as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report!! And don’t forget, you can watch Hot Coffee through July 28th on HBO, on HBO On Demand all summer long, and on HBO GO. For those of you who don’t have HBO and can’t get to a Film Festival, we’re working on bringing Hot Coffee to theaters soon. And we will have DVDs for sale in the fall—if you give us your email address, we’ll let you know just as soon they’re available.”

Everyone needs to watch this movie, despite your political inclinations. To see what the media is saying now, click here.