Las Vegas Slip and Fall Lawsuit: The $15M Fenton Verdict

If you were hurt in a fall at a casino, hotel, restaurant, or store on the Strip, a Las Vegas slip and fall lawsuit is a premises liability claim: you have to show the property knew or should have known about the hazard that caused your fall, you have two years from the date of the accident to file, and the size of any recovery depends heavily on how serious your injuries are and how much fault the jury puts on you. Nevada juries have returned eight-figure awards in these cases when the injuries are severe. In April 2025, a Clark County jury awarded Deborah Fenton $15 million after she slipped on water and glass at The Cosmopolitan’s Chandelier Bar and developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.1Las Vegas Review-Journal. California Woman Wins $15M Judgment Against Strip Casino Hotel

What the Hotel or Casino Owed You

Nevada law classifies hotel and casino guests as invitees, the category that receives the strongest legal protection. The property has to keep the premises reasonably safe, which means actively inspecting for hazards, fixing dangerous conditions promptly, and warning guests about risks that can’t be eliminated right away.2Ace Law Group. Nevada Premises Liability Laws NRS 651.015 says hotels specifically must “exercise due care for the safety of patrons.”3Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 651 – Innkeepers and Their Guests

Duty alone is not enough. To win, you generally have to prove the property either actually knew about the hazard or that the hazard existed long enough that a reasonably careful operator would have found it. This is called actual or constructive notice, and it is usually the fight at the center of these cases. Surveillance video, cleaning logs, and inspection records are the usual evidence. In the Fenton case, surveillance footage of the aftermath of the spill and the hotel’s response became central at trial, with the plaintiff’s team using it to counter the defense argument that staff had not had enough time to clean up.4Expert Institute. $15M Verdict Las Vegas Casino Slip Fall

When the Property Will Try to Blame You

Expect two defenses. The first is that the hazard was “open and obvious” and you should have avoided it. In Nevada, that argument is weaker than it used to be. The Nevada Supreme Court held in Foster v. Costco Wholesale Corp. (2012) that an open and obvious condition does not automatically release the property owner from the duty of reasonable care. Instead, the obviousness of the hazard is one factor the jury weighs, and courts look at surrounding circumstances like lighting, noise, and alcohol service that might have distracted you.5FindLaw. Foster v. Costco Wholesale Corp., 291 P.3d 150

The second defense is comparative negligence. Nevada follows a modified comparative negligence rule under NRS 41.141. You can still recover damages if your share of fault is 50% or less, but your award is reduced by your percentage of responsibility. If you are 51% or more at fault, you recover nothing.6FindLaw. NRS 41.141 – Comparative Negligence

How much that matters is easy to see in a recent Strip case. In April 2026, a jury awarded Jesse Lozano roughly $3.4 million after he slipped on a wet marble floor at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in 2018. The jury found the casino 50% responsible and Lozano 50% at fault, which cut his collectible damages to about $1.7 million.7Courtroom View Network. Jesse Lozano v. Paris Las Vegas Operating Company LLC Trial The defense argued the liquid could have come from his own beer or a flask in his pocket.8CDC Gaming Reports. Casino Hit With $3.4M Slip-and-Fall Verdict Fenton, by contrast, was not assigned any fault, so her $15 million stood in full.

What You Can Recover

Successful plaintiffs in Nevada slip-and-fall cases can recover both economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, future lost income) and non-economic damages (pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life). Nevada does not cap non-economic damages in general personal injury cases, which is why pain-and-suffering awards can reach the millions when injuries are severe and lasting.9Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 41A – Actions for Professional Negligence

The Fenton verdict shows how lopsided that split can be when the injury is life-altering. The jury’s $15 million breakdown was:

Roughly 91% of the award was for pain and suffering rather than medical bills, reflecting the jury’s view of how severely Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a chronic neurological condition that produces intense pain disproportionate to the triggering injury, would affect Fenton’s life going forward.10Courtroom Cast. Deborah Fenton v. Nevada Property 1, LLC Trial The verdict is not final: in July 2025, the defendant filed motions for a new trial or remittitur, which were pending before Judge Eric Johnson as of mid-July 2025.11Trellis Law. Deborah Fenton v. Nevada Property 1, LLC

One boundary worth noting: Nevada does have a statutory cap on non-economic damages, but it only applies to medical malpractice claims under NRS 41A.035 (set at $590,000 for 2026). It does not apply to slip-and-fall or other premises liability cases.12Nevada Courts. Limitations of Noneconomic Damages Against Health Care Providers

How Long You Have to File

You have two years from the date of the fall to file suit under NRS 11.190(4)(e). The clock can be paused in limited situations: if the injured person is a minor (the deadline doesn’t start until they turn 18), if the person has a severe mental disability, or if the defendant is out of state.13Nevada Legislature. NRS Chapter 11 – Limitation of Actions

If your fall happened on government-owned property (a city sidewalk, a county building, a state facility), a separate formal notice of claim must be filed within 180 days under NRS 41.036.2Ace Law Group. Nevada Premises Liability Laws Miss that shorter deadline and your case against the government entity is likely gone, even though the two-year statute hasn’t run.

What to Do Right Away

Evidence disappears fast in Las Vegas, and that is the single biggest practical reason to move quickly. Casinos and hotels routinely overwrite surveillance footage within 24 to 72 hours. A written preservation demand sent the same day as the fall can be the difference between having video and having nothing.14Ace Law Group. What to Do After a Slip and Fall Accident in Las Vegas Witnesses are also harder to track down than in most cities because most people on the Strip are tourists who leave within days, so collect names, phone numbers, and email addresses at the scene if you can.

What Recent Verdicts Tell You

Fenton’s $15 million and Lozano’s $3.4 million gross award are the two most instructive recent Strip benchmarks, and they bracket what these cases tend to look like. Fenton walked away with the full verdict because the jury assigned her no fault and because CRPS is the kind of permanent, life-altering condition that drives large future pain-and-suffering numbers. Lozano walked away with half because the jury split fault evenly, and his injuries, while serious, were treatable through injections, nerve ablations, and stimulator implants rather than being a permanent chronic pain syndrome.8CDC Gaming Reports. Casino Hit With $3.4M Slip-and-Fall Verdict The two variables that most shape your case are the same two that shaped theirs: how badly you were hurt, and how clearly the property, rather than you, caused the fall.