Professional liability defense is the representation of a licensed professional accused of failing to meet the standard of their field. Hutchison & Steffen defends the professional. A professional liability attorney at the Firm answers the claim, works with the carrier, and handles the licensing consequences that often run alongside the lawsuit on a separate track with separate deadlines.
The claims differ by profession but share a structure. The plaintiff has to establish the standard of care that applied, show a departure from it, and connect that departure to an actual loss. Causation is where most of these cases are genuinely contested, because a disappointing outcome is not by itself a departure from the standard, and a departure that changed nothing produces no damages.
For health care providers, NRS 41A.015 fixes the standard: professional negligence is the failure, in rendering services, to use the reasonable care, skill, or knowledge ordinarily used under similar circumstances by similarly trained and experienced providers of health care. The comparison is to peers in similar circumstances, not to a perfect result.
Matters of this kind are handled by attorneys including Mark A. Hutchison, whose practice includes professional liability defense, for professionals in Las Vegas, Henderson, Summerlin, North Las Vegas, Reno, Sparks, Carson City, and statewide.
What makes Nevada distinctive is that the limitation period is not one rule. It is at least three, and which one applies depends on the profession rather than on the kind of mistake. NRS 11.207 governs actions against attorneys and veterinarians, and only those two: four years after the plaintiff sustains damage or two years after discovery, whichever occurs earlier. NRS 11.2075 governs accountants and accounting firms on a different structure, the earliest of two years after discovery, four years after the service was completed, or four years after the report on the financial statements was first issued. Health care providers run under NRS 41A.097 instead. Both of the first two are tolled while the professional conceals the act, error, or omission.
Nevada also builds gates into the front of some of these cases, which is the defense's first opportunity. Under NRS 41A.071 an action for professional negligence against a provider of health care must be filed with a supporting affidavit from a medical expert, who practices or has practiced in a substantially similar area, identifying each allegedly negligent provider and setting out the specific acts alleged against each. If it is missing, the court shall dismiss the action without prejudice. For design professionals in nonresidential construction matters, NRS 11.258 requires the claimant's attorney to file an affidavit with a report attached concurrently with service of the first pleading, and NRS 11.259 makes dismissal mandatory when that does not happen.
These matters run alongside other practices. Provider licensing and board advocacy is handled with our Healthcare Professionals Advocacy attorneys, coverage and carrier questions with our Insurance Litigation attorneys, agency proceedings with our Administrative & Regulatory Law attorneys, and construction matters with our Construction Law attorneys.
