To succeed with a personal injury claim, you’re going to need evidence to support your position. That might sound easy enough, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of car accident victims struggle to gather the evidence that they need to persuasively present their case. We don’t want that to happen to you, which is why we’ve put together this informal list of things that you can do to start building your personal injury claim.
- Seek out medical treatment and follow your doctor’s recommendations for treatment: This way, you get the care that you need while making a record of the treatment that you’ve received and what you’ll need in the future. This will also help paint a picture of the full extent of your damages. If you don’t seek out treatment as recommended by your medical professional, it’s going to be hard to claim that those are damages worth taking seriously.
- Gather your medical records and your medical bills: Again, this will help demonstrate your diagnosis and your prognosis as well as give a clearer sense of your incurred and expected medical expenses. Don’t forget to retain and organize any receipts from purchases that are tied to your care and rehabilitation. Even if those expenses seem relatively small, they can quickly add up.
- Gather your employment records: To recover your lost wages, you’re going to have to show what you would have made if you had been able work. So, your employment records can help you demonstrate your rate of pay. These records might also assist in showing your anticipated lost wages.
- Talk to witnesses: These individuals can help you prove who was responsible for the accident as well as how your injuries have affected your day-to-day living. But make sure that you’re getting detailed accounts so that you can identify any flaws in their stories, as these may become problematic later on in your case. Also, be sure to take down contact information so that you know how to get in touch with these witnesses if you need them to testify at trial.
- Expert witnesses: Start considering who may be able to testify as an expert witness in your case to help you demonstrate the full extent of the harm caused to you, your need for ongoing medical care, and how your injuries have affected your ability to work. These witnesses may include your doctor, other medical experts, and employment professionals who can speak to your likely compensation moving forward given your education, training, and experience.
- Obtain police reports: These documents can help you identify witnesses and key observations that may be pivotal to your case. There may even be statements in there from the other driver that are indicative of fault. Therefore, make sure that you really scrutinize these records and follow up as needed.
- Consider your own driving: In most personal injury cases, the defense tries to argue that the victim is to blame for the wreck, at least in some fashion, thereby claiming that any damages should be reduced in accordance with that fault. Therefore, as you build your case, you should carefully analyze your own driving actions to see if an argument can be made that you were partially to blame. If so, think through how you can defend yourself in that regard.
Putting together the comprehensive case that you need
With so much on the line in your personal injury case, you need to be able to present the most holistic and persuasive case possible. That’s why it is usually helpful to have a legal ally on your side who can assist you in analyzing the facts of your case and developing the legal strategy that you need.