Nebraska Personal Injury Lawyer

I was born and raised in Kearney, and I practice out of Omaha. I represent people hurt in crashes, at work and on someone else’s property in every part of the state, and families who have lost someone to another person’s negligence.

This page covers the Nebraska law that applies statewide: the deadlines, the fault rule, the special rules for claims against cities and the state, and the coverage questions that decide how much a family actually receives. The community pages below cover what is local, such as the courthouse, the highways, the hospitals and the kinds of cases I have handled there.

Communities I Serve

Each page covers one community on its own terms. Several have deeper pages for truck and car accidents, because that is what people there were searching for.

The cases differ from place to place. In Scottsbluff I have handled car crashes, a vehicle-into-pedestrian case and a great deal of workers’ compensation. In Alliance and Scottsbluff I represent firefighters in comp claims. North Platte brings semi-truck crashes, car accidents and workers’ comp. In Norfolk I have taken on apartment complexes over dangerous premises. Grand Island is where a bank board seat brings me every month. Some of my largest results come from places without a page on this site: $5.4 million for the family of an elementary school child hurt in a school bus accident in Chase County, and $285,000 for a woman who fell on a mailbox approach on a country road in Washington County. Every one of them is governed by the same state law, and that is what the rest of this page covers.

Four Years, and the Exceptions That Swallow It

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207 gives four years to sue for most injuries that do not arise from a contract, which covers the usual car crash, fall or dog bite. That is twice Iowa’s deadline, and it lulls people into waiting. The exceptions are where Nebraska claims are lost:

• Wrongful death: two years. Under § 30-810, a death action must be filed within two years after the death. It is brought by the personal representative for the surviving spouse and next of kin. A settlement cannot be finalized until the court that appointed the personal representative approves it.
• Cities, counties, school districts and other local government: one year to file a written claim. Under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, § 13-919, the written claim must reach the governing body within one year. Section 13-905 requires it to be filed with the clerk or the official who keeps the subdivision’s records, stating the time and place. The lawsuit then must follow within two years, with a six-month extension after the claim is decided or withdrawn. A crash with a city bus, a county snowplow or a school vehicle runs on this clock.
• The State of Nebraska: two years, in writing, to the Risk Manager. The State Tort Claims Act, § 81-8,227, requires the written claim within two years, again with a six-month extension for suit after the claim is resolved.
• A work injury: two years. Under § 48-137, a comp claim is barred unless the parties agree or a petition is filed within two years of the accident, or within two years of the last payment if benefits were paid. Section 48-133 separately requires written notice to the employer as soon as practicable.

For young people, § 25-213 extends the time to sue until after the disability of age is removed. That extension reaches most injury claims, including those under the tort claims acts. It is still no reason to wait: witnesses move, video is erased, and the vehicles are repaired or scrapped.

Nebraska’s Fault Rule: The 50 Percent Line

Nebraska compares fault under § 25-21,185.09. An injured person’s own negligence reduces the award proportionately. But once it is equal to or greater than the total negligence of everyone the claim is brought against, recovery is barred entirely. At 49 percent you recover 51 percent of your damages. At 50 percent you recover nothing. The jury must be told what its allocation will do.

That line is why the first weeks of a Nebraska case matter so much. The defense’s whole strategy in a disputed-liability case is to move the injured person up to fifty. It points to the pedestrian outside the crosswalk, the motorcyclist’s speed, the driver who “should have seen” the truck. It is answered with evidence: scene measurements, vehicle data, lighting, sight lines, and witnesses found while they still remember. I have won pedestrian cases where the person hit was not in a crosswalk, including a $571,332 jury verdict for a pedestrian struck by farm equipment while walking on a gravel road at night. Under § 60-6,154 a pedestrian outside a crosswalk must yield. But § 60-6,109 requires every driver, “notwithstanding” the other rules of the road, to exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian upon any roadway.

People on Foot: Nebraska’s Walking Rules and the Driver’s Duty

Nebraska tells pedestrians where to walk in § 60-6,156. Where a usable sidewalk exists, walking in the adjacent roadway or on the shoulder is unlawful. Where there is no sidewalk but there is a shoulder, the pedestrian must stay on the shoulder as far from the road as practicable. Where there is neither, the pedestrian must walk as near the edge as practicable and, on a two-way road, on the left side, facing traffic. On most rural Nebraska roads there is neither, and people walk there every day.

Insurers treat any departure from these rules as the end of the discussion. It isn’t. I have handled many pedestrian and crosswalk cases. Liability is rarely clear at the start, and officers almost never issue a citation, so the police report seldom settles anything. The cases can be a battle, but they succeed when they are worked correctly. A driver has a duty to watch for anything entering the roadway, whatever color the light is. Proving what the driver could have seen usually takes an accident reconstructionist and an expert in human perception: how far headlights reach, how long a real person needs to react, and what the scene actually looked like at that hour.

The results bear that out. Beyond the gravel-road verdict above, I recovered $300,000 for the family of a pedestrian hit in a marked crosswalk in the dark hours before dawn, $300,000 for a pedestrian injured in a collision with a city bus, and $125,000 on a disputed-liability claim for a pedestrian struck on the side of a dark road at night. More on how these claims work is on my pedestrian accident page.

When Someone Dies: How a Nebraska Death Claim Works

Section 30-809 creates the claim. Whenever a death is caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of another, the party who would have been liable to the injured person is liable for the death. The statute expressly includes an unborn child at any stage of gestation, with narrow exceptions for the mother and for lawful medical care. Section 30-810 then sets the procedure, and it is more formal than families expect. The action is brought by the personal representative of the estate, so an estate usually has to be opened first. It is brought for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin. The recovery is divided among them in proportion to each one’s pecuniary loss. No settlement is final until the court that appointed the personal representative approves its terms, and the distribution is set after a hearing with notice published for three successive weeks.

None of that is a reason for a family to hold back, but all of it takes time. Against a two-year deadline, it is why the first call should come early. A death claim often sits alongside a separate claim for what the person suffered before death, and sorting out which damages belong to which claim is part of building the case correctly.

More Than One Defendant

Nebraska splits the two kinds of damages when several defendants are at fault. Under § 25-21,185.10, liability for economic damages such as medical bills, lost wages and funeral costs is joint and several, so the injured person can collect all of it from any one of them. Liability for noneconomic damages such as pain, suffering and loss of companionship is several only: each defendant pays its own percentage. The exception is defendants acting in concert as part of a common plan, who are jointly liable for everything.

Settling with one defendant has its own rule. Under § 25-21,185.11, a release discharges only the person released, unless it says otherwise. The claim against everyone else is then reduced by the released party’s share of fault as the jury finds it, not by the dollars paid. An early, cheap settlement with the wrong defendant can quietly give away far more than it brings in. The order of settlements in a multi-defendant case is a strategy decision, not paperwork.

Seat Belts Count, but Only a Little

Under § 60-6,273, evidence that an injured person was not wearing a seat belt is inadmissible on liability and on proximate cause. It may be offered only on mitigation of damages, and even then it cannot reduce the recovery by more than five percent. Insurance adjusters raise the seat belt constantly because it sounds decisive. In a Nebraska courtroom, it is worth at most a twentieth of the case. Iowa allows up to twenty-five percent, one of several reasons the Iowa rules have to be checked whenever a case touches both states.

Insurance: Where the Money Actually Comes From

Nebraska’s minimum liability policy, defined in § 60-310, is $25,000 for one person’s injury and $50,000 per crash. A serious injury exhausts that in days. Three statutes decide what happens next:

• Underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory. Under § 44-6408, no auto liability policy on a vehicle garaged in Nebraska may be issued without UM and UIM coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident. When the at-fault driver carries the minimum, your own UIM coverage is next in line. I explain how the offset and the settlement-notice rules work on my underinsured motorist page.
• Household exclusions are void. The same § 60-310 forbids a policy from excluding, limiting or reducing liability coverage because the injured person is the named insured or lives in the named insured’s household. A passenger hurt by a spouse’s or parent’s driving can claim against the family’s own liability coverage.
• Employers and third parties. When a work injury was caused by someone other than the employer, § 48-118 preserves the worker’s right to sue that third party. The employer is subrogated to recover what it paid, and anything beyond that goes to the worker.

Passenger claims in particular are often worth more than families expect. I recovered $1,275,000 for a passenger injured in a single-vehicle crash in Douglas County.

Dogs, Bars and Other Nebraska Particulars

Nebraska makes a dog’s owner liable for “any and all damages” to a person bitten, other than a trespasser, under § 54-601. There is no requirement to prove the owner knew the dog was dangerous. Alcohol is different. Nebraska’s civil liquor-liability statute, § 53-404, is written around intoxicated minors. It gives an injured person a claim against a social host who let a minor drink, a person who procured alcohol for a minor, or a retailer who sold it to one. That is narrower than Iowa’s Dramshop Act, and it makes the age of the drinker a first question in any alcohol-related crash.

Crash reporting has its own rule. If no officer investigated, the driver of a vehicle in a crash with injury or $2,000 in damage must report it to the Department of Transportation within ten days under § 60-699. My Nebraska crash-report guide lists where each agency’s reports are kept and what they cost.

What I Do First on a Nebraska Case

In the first days I identify every deadline that applies, including the one-year claim against a city or county. I get preservation letters out for truck data, store video and phone records, and find every insurance policy, including the client’s own UIM coverage. Then I build the fault case to keep my client below the fifty percent line. The claims themselves are explained on the practice pages for car accidents, semi-truck accidents, I-80 crashes, pedestrian accidents, motorcycle accidents, wrongful death and work injuries.

Your Attorney

Frank Younes

Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.

More about Frank → · Free consultation: (402) 378-9208

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file a personal injury lawsuit in Nebraska?

Four years for most injury claims under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207, but wrongful death actions must be filed within two years of the death, and claims against a city, county or school district require a written claim within one year under the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act.

Can I recover in Nebraska if I was partly at fault?

Yes, if your negligence is less than the combined negligence of the people you are claiming against. Your award is reduced by your share. Under § 25-21,185.09, once your share is equal to or greater than theirs, recovery is barred entirely, so 50 percent is the line.

I was hit by a city bus or a county vehicle. What is different?

The Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act applies. A written claim must be filed with the clerk or records official of that city, county or district within one year, and the lawsuit must follow within two years, with a six-month extension after the claim is decided or withdrawn.

Does not wearing a seat belt ruin my Nebraska case?

No. Under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,273, seat belt evidence is inadmissible on liability and causation and cannot reduce your recovery by more than five percent.

The at-fault driver only has minimum insurance. Is that the end of it?

Usually not. Every Nebraska auto policy must include underinsured motorist coverage under § 44-6408, so your own policy may pay once the at-fault driver's $25,000 limit is exhausted, and household-member exclusions on liability coverage are void under § 60-310.

Does Frank Younes handle cases outside Omaha?

Yes. Frank Younes represents injured people and families throughout Nebraska, from Omaha, Lincoln and Sarpy County to Grand Island, Kearney, North Platte, Scottsbluff and Alliance, and throughout Iowa. He was born and raised in Kearney.