In this section, our attorneys explain Nevada’s criminal laws and legal concepts, A to Z
Criminal Law A to Z
In this section, our attorneys explain Nevada’s criminal laws and legal concepts, A to Z
Crimes by NRS Section
Every crime in Nevada is based in a section of the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS). For each crime, our attorneys explain the laws, penalties and best defenses to fight the charge.
Nevada DUI
Getting arrested for DUI does not mean you will be convicted. Police misconduct, defective breathalyzers and crime lab mistakes may be enough to get your charges lessened or dismissed. Visit our page on Nevada DUI Laws to learn more.
Post-Conviction
Even if you’ve already been convicted of a crime, there is still much you can do to seal your record and restore your rights. Our attorneys explain how.
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In Nevada, alcohol vendors (“dram shops”) such as bars, restaurants, package stores, and casinos are not civilly liable for any injuries if a customer they serve alcohol to then gets into an intoxication-induced accident. It does not matter if the customer was under 21.1
Nevada laws are stricter for “social hosts,” who are ordinary people who serve alcohol to friends or other guests. If they knowingly give alcohol to a person under 21 – or let a person under 21 drink alcohol on their property – then they are liable for any injuries that underage person causes while intoxicated.2
However, both alcohol vendors and social hosts face misdemeanor charges for knowingly supplying alcohol to people under 21 whether they get into an accident or not. Misdemeanors carry up to six months in jail and/or $1,000.3
Many of the DUI crashes and other alcohol-fueled accidents I see involve people who recently drank at a bar or restaurant. However, Nevada does not have dram shop laws.
This means any victims injured in these accidents cannot recover money from the alcohol vendor(s) that served the alcohol.4 It does not matter:
Example: Tom uses a fake ID to get into a Las Vegas bar, where he downs six beers. Then in the bar’s parking lot, he drunkenly backs into a pedestrian. The pedestrian can sue Tom for personal injury but not the bar. It makes no difference that Tom was underage or that the crash occurred right outside the bar.
Nevada is one of eight states without dram shop laws:
Therefore alcohol vendors in the other 42 can be held civilly liable if their customers cause any injuries due to being inebriated.
I also see a lot of DUI crashes and alcohol-fueled accidents that involve people who just left a house party where alcohol was served. “Social hosts” who serve alcohol are civilly liable for any resulting injuries only if:
Therefore if the person the social host served alcohol to was an adult 21 or older, the social host has the same protections as alcohol vendors and would not bear any civil liability for any resulting accidents.5
Example: Max throws a party and serves alcohol to a 25-year-old friend and their underage friend who claims they are 25 and appears it. After the party, the 25-year-old and the underage friend get into separate DUI crashes. Even though Max provided them alcohol, Max is not liable for injuries caused by either crash because the 25-year-old was an adult, and Max did know that the underage person was underage.
Note that Nevada’s “social host” laws apply to any kind of gathering, whether it is a large party at a venue or an informal meetup at home.
In Nevada, you have grounds to bring a personal injury lawsuit against a social host if:
You can recover such compensatory damages as:
Since the social host knowingly gave underage people alcohol, the court may also agree to award you punitive damages to punish the social host for their behavior. Punitive damages are often much greater than compensatory damages.6
The statute of limitations to bring a personal injury lawsuit in Nevada is two years after your injury, which is less time than it sounds since it takes a while to craft a winning case.7
Nevada makes it a misdemeanor under NRS 202.055 to knowingly provide alcohol to people under 21. The punishment is:
This law applies to alcohol vendors and social hosts: The only people who can lawfully give underage people alcohol are their:
In my experience, the best defense to a NRS 202.055 charge is to claim you did not know the person was underage. As long as a reasonable person in your position also would have thought they were at least 21, then criminal charges should not stand.8
A former Los Angeles prosecutor, attorney Neil Shouse graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and Harvard Law School (and completed additional graduate studies at MIT). He has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, Dr Phil, The Today Show and Court TV. Mr Shouse has been recognized by the National Trial Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Criminal and Top 100 Civil Attorneys.