Tips from a Sarasota Personal Injury Attorney
There are a number of things you can do to help your attorney in presenting your personal injury case to an adjuster or someday to a jury if your case doesn't settle.
Photographs of Property Damage & Injuries
First and foremost, physical evidence is always important in proving up the damages component of a personal injury claim. Photographs can be invaluable in establishing the severity of the impact involved in an automobile accident. It's always a good idea to photograph the vehicle damage to your automobile following an accident. Insurance adjusters hate any case where the property damage is severe as they know a jury will have little difficulty in believing that the flesh and blood occupants of the automobile suffered serious injuries.
Photographs of any bruising, abrasions, or lacerations is equally important. Keep in mind that insurance adjusters will attempt to trivialize the nature of your accident in any way available to them. By having photographs that show how the accident caused visible signs of injury, you will have an effective argument against the attempt to characterize your accident as a benign or harmless event.
Medical Expenses & Wage Loss
Keep all of your billing information and receipts. Part of your personal injury claim is for whatever economic loss that you experienced due to your injuries. This economic loss will always involve medical expenses incurred in treating your injuries. Also important is to keep accurate documentation of any wage loss you may have experienced due to an inability to resume your employment. Always remember, you can't be compensated for anything that you can't prove by competent evidence.
Witnesses
Identify good before and after witnesses who will be willing to testify in court if need be. Before and after witnesses are people who knew you and had contact with you both before and after the accident. It's their job to describe how the accident has affected you both physically and emotionally. These witnesses can be family members but it's always helpful to have at least one or more non-family members who can describe how the accident has diminished the quality of your life. Co-workers can be particularly effective in describing how your injuries have affected the quality of your work. Golf or tennis partners who can describe how physically active and athletic you were before the accident can make very compelling testimony. Neighbors who might have seen you active walking the neighborhood before the accident and now see you as essentially homebound can also be excellent before and after witnesses. Identify as many of these type witnesses as you can and put them into contact with your lawyer. He or she can then determine which of them will be the most effective witnesses for your case.
Beware of Social Media
One last caveat, be very careful what you put on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. Defense lawyers and insurance adjusters are very likely to look for anything that you might post on these websites in the effort to discredit your claim.