Someone has told you your husband, your wife, your child was partly to blame for the crash that killed them — maybe a police report, maybe an insurance adjuster on the phone. Now you’re carrying two weights at once: the loss itself, and the fear that being partly at fault in a fatal crash means your family has no case.
Here’s the answer, first: in Nevada, partial fault usually does not end a wrongful death claim. If your loved one was 50% or less responsible for the crash, your family can still recover — the amount is reduced by their share of fault, not erased. Only when someone is found more than half at fault does Nevada law bar recovery.
If you were the one injured and worried about your own share of blame, that’s a different situation — this guide on being partially at fault in a Nevada accident covers it. This article is for families who lost someone.
Being partly at fault in a fatal crash usually doesn’t end the claim
Nevada uses what’s called modified comparative negligence. In plain terms: fault gets split into percentages, and a person can still recover as long as their share isn’t more than everyone else’s combined. That rule applies to the person who died the same way it applies to a living plaintiff.
So the adjuster telling you “your husband was speeding, so there’s nothing here” is not stating a legal conclusion. They’re stating a position — and often an inflated one. A fatal crash wrongful death claim doesn’t disappear because your loved one made a mistake. It survives as long as their share of fault stays at or below the halfway line.
Every crash is different, and only a review of the specific facts can tell you where your family stands. But the general rule in Nevada is far more forgiving than most grieving families are led to believe.
How comparative fault works when the person who died shared blame
The 50% line that decides everything
Nevada draws one bright line. If your loved one’s share of fault was 50% or less, your family can recover — reduced by that percentage. If their share was more than 50%, recovery is barred.
That comparison isn’t against a single other driver in isolation. It’s your loved one’s share measured against the combined fault of everyone your family is bringing a claim against. When more than one party contributed — another driver, a trucking company, a bar that overserved — each is responsible only for their own slice, and those slices add up on the other side of the scale.
How the reduction actually works
Say a jury values a family’s total losses at $1 million and finds the person who died was 25% at fault. The recovery is reduced by that 25%, and the family collects $750,000. Now flip it: if the loved one is found 60% at fault, recovery is barred, because their share crossed the halfway line.
Those numbers are only there to show the math — every case turns on its own facts. The point is that a fault percentage below the line reduces a claim; it doesn’t end it. And that percentage is exactly where the fight usually happens. Nevada’s comparative negligence rule is the mechanism, and it works in your family’s favor more often than an insurer will admit.
Who decides how much fault your loved one had?
Not the police, and not the insurance company — at least not with any finality.
A police report is a starting point. The responding officer records what they saw and may note an apparent cause, but that opinion isn’t a binding ruling. Reports can be incomplete, based on one witness, or simply wrong, and they can be challenged with evidence the officer never had.
The at-fault insurer then assigns its own split, and that number is built to serve one goal: paying as little as possible. The final apportionment of fault is settled in negotiation or, if a case goes that far, decided by a jury. The early “your loved one caused it” story you heard is the beginning of that process, not the end of it.
Why insurers push the “your loved one caused it” story
Here’s the uncomfortable part. In a fatal crash, the person best able to explain what happened is gone. Adjusters know that silence, and some exploit it — inflating the deceased’s share of fault precisely because no one is there to give their side.
It’s especially common where the crash involves a fault dispute: a high-speed corridor like I-15 or US-95, a Boulder Highway wreck involving impairment, a late-night collision with no independent witnesses. The insurer fills the gap with the version that costs them the least.
That version can be taken apart. Crash reconstruction, the vehicle’s event data recorder (“black box”), independent witnesses, physical evidence, and traffic-camera footage often tell a very different story than the adjuster’s letter. This is where HIL’s founder matters. Glen Howard spent years as an insurance defense attorney — building and defending exactly these fault arguments for the other side. Knowing how a carrier assembles and inflates a fault percentage is what it takes to dismantle one.
The two claims your family can still bring
Nevada actually gives your family two paths, and comparative fault reduces both by the same share rather than wiping either out.
One claim belongs to the heirs — the surviving spouse or partner, children, and closer relatives — for personal losses like grief, lost companionship, and the support the person would have provided. The other is brought on behalf of the estate for costs the death created and losses the estate absorbed. They recover different things and are handled separately, even when advanced in the same case.
Which claim fits your family, and how they differ, is worth understanding before you talk to anyone. Start with wrongful death versus a survival action and what a family can recover after a fatal crash.
Nevada’s deadline is still running — don’t wait
Partial fault does not pause the clock. Nevada generally gives families two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death claim, and missing that window usually ends the case no matter how strong it was.
There’s a second clock, too. The evidence that rebuts an inflated fault number — skid measurements, vehicle data, camera footage, a witness’s fresh memory — degrades fast. The sooner it’s preserved, the harder it is for an insurer to make your loved one the villain. If a deadline is anywhere on your mind, read when a wrongful death auto claim must be filed in Nevada, then talk to a Las Vegas motor vehicle accident lawyer before it closes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still file a wrongful death claim if my loved one was partly at fault?
Usually, yes. Nevada follows modified comparative negligence, so a person’s share of fault reduces recovery instead of eliminating it — as long as that share is 50% or less. If your loved one was, for example, 30% at fault, your family can still recover the remaining 70% of its damages. The claim is only barred if the deceased is found more than 50% responsible. Because the fault percentage is usually the insurer’s opening position and not a final ruling, it’s worth having an attorney review how that number was reached before you accept it.
What happens if my loved one was mostly at fault?
If your loved one is ultimately found more than 50% at fault, Nevada’s comparative negligence rule bars recovery. That’s the honest answer. But “mostly at fault” is a conclusion, not a fact handed down at the scene — it’s an estimate, often the insurer’s, and it’s frequently inflated because the person who died can’t give their account. Before treating that number as final, it should be tested against the physical evidence, vehicle data, and any witnesses. Cases that looked hopeless on the adjuster’s first letter have shifted once the real fault picture came out.
Do the police decide who was at fault in a fatal crash?
No. The police report is important evidence, but it isn’t a legal ruling on fault. An officer records what they observed and may note a probable cause, yet that opinion can be incomplete or mistaken, and it can be challenged. Fault for a civil claim is ultimately determined through the insurance and legal process — negotiated between the parties or decided by a jury if the case goes to trial. So a report suggesting your loved one was to blame is not the last word, and it doesn’t decide what your family can recover.
What if the other at-fault driver also died in the crash?
Your family can still pursue a claim. Nevada law lets a wrongful death claim proceed against a deceased wrongdoer’s estate and, importantly, their insurance coverage — the death of the at-fault driver doesn’t erase your family’s rights. In practice, recovery often comes through that driver’s auto policy, and potentially through your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage if their limits fall short. These situations get layered quickly, so it’s worth mapping out every available source of recovery with an attorney early.
Does a citation or charge against my loved one mean we can’t recover?
Not necessarily. A traffic citation or even a criminal charge is part of a separate system, and it doesn’t automatically decide fault in your civil wrongful death claim. Criminal and civil cases use different standards and different evidence, and a citation is not a finding that your loved one was more than half at fault. It can influence a claim, but it rarely settles one on its own. For how the two tracks interact, see how a driver’s criminal case affects a fatal crash claim.
You have the right to ask — talk to a Las Vegas fatal crash attorney
Asking whether your family has a claim is not disloyalty. It’s how you protect the people your loved one would have provided for. The fault percentage an adjuster quoted you is a starting position, not a final ruling — and in a fatal crash, it’s often the number most worth challenging.
A free consultation costs you nothing and puts no obligation on you. Howard Injury Law works on contingency, so there’s no fee unless we win. Bring what you have — the police report, the adjuster’s letter, the name of the insurer — and we’ll tell you honestly whether the fault story holds up. Reach out through our free consultation page, or learn more about how we handle a Las Vegas fatal crash case. You don’t have to accept the other side’s version of what happened.
