The burden of supporting the damages claim for your personal injury claim is on you and your personal injury attorney. Essentially, your attorney will lead you on an information-gathering journey from the time you hire them. Your personal injury attorney will also take steps to ensure you complete all recommended medical treatment, in order to further support the damages claim. Here are a few categories of information you’ll need to be concerned with.
Police Reports
Provided that the police came to the scene of the accident, the report will be requested by your attorney. While the report may or may not speak to a fault, there are often notes in the report which can add value to your claim, or which may weaken your claim. Either way, your attorney will want to be made aware of them. For example, if the report states that the driver of the vehicle had alcohol on her breath, this will play in your favor, even if there was not any ‘hard’ evidence that the driver was drunk.
Photographs
If you have photographs of your auto accident or the scene where had a slip and fall, this will potentially help to establish the extent of your physical injury or lend itself toward establishing premises liability in a claim.
Witnesses
While witnesses can be unreliable in court, it typically strengthens a case if there is a witness who did not know you prior to the accident and who is willing to sign an affidavit or to testify as to what they saw. The sooner your personal injury attorney gets a written statement the better—memory fades as time goes by.
Documenting Injuries
Of course, one of the most important categories of evidence is going to be your medical records. From the date of the accident forward, you’ll need to make sure all of your treating physicians know the name and contact info of your personal injury attorney. Periodically, the physician will submit reports to the attorney’s office. Ultimately, once treatment is completed, the physician will provide a complete summary to the attorney’s office. This summary will pertain to your health and injuries, what the physician has done, what the physician recommends, and what the physician expects you will experience in the future. The attorney will examine this information and use it to assign value to your case.
If you have any questions about a personal injury claim in Charlotte, NC, or would like to speak to an attorney about whether you might have a claim, please call 704.749.7747. The call is free and we’re here to help.