How to Win a Personal Injury Case
A personal injury lawsuit involves an individual's claim for financial compensation for someone else's negligence. You could lose a significant amount of compensation if trying to bargain with insurance companies and navigate Florida law without the assistance of an experienced attorney.
As with all civil claims, injury claims begin with an initial complaint. This document lists the parties involved, describes the harmful act and outlines the compensation you're seeking.
Medical Treatment
You are required to receive regular medical treatments as part of your claim for injury. This is an essential part of establishing your seriousness and the extent of your injuries in order to receive an appropriate settlement for your claim. There are a variety of reasons you may not be in a position to keep the appointment with your doctor. This includes unrelated illness or work commitments, transportation problems, and other concerns which can interfere with your routine medical appointments.
In general, any significant medical condition or injury that is discovered must be documented when it is discovered, regardless of whether medical treatment is recommended. Cancer, chronic irreversible disease and fractured or cracked bones and eardrums that have been punctured are considered to be significant diagnoses for the purposes of record-keeping.
Certain procedures are not regarded as medical treatment, including examinations, X-ray examinations, and hospitalization for observations. HIV and HBV antibody tests relating to exposures in the workplace, and counseling for mental stress are also ruled out. Medical treatments include treating wounds and multiple soakings in whirlpools, antibiotic therapy, and whirlpool therapy.
However, gaps in your medical treatment should be avoided as far as you can. Insurance companies may use a lack in consistency of treatment to argue you're not really as injured as you claim. This is why it's important to keep track of each visit, symptom and medical bill for your injury.
Documentation
Documentation is an essential element in any injury lawsuit. The more documentation you give to your attorney, regardless of whether you're involved in a car crash or truck accident, or other incident that causes injuries, the easier it is for them to demonstrate negligence on your behalf.
Medical records are essential in demonstrating the extent of your injuries. These documents include medical invoices medical receipts, receipts for prescriptions and other treatments like the use of physiotherapy, imaging studies like MRIs or CT scanners.
Other important documentation is an incident report written by law enforcement at the scene of the accident. It is also important to take pictures of your injuries and the scene of the accident from various angles and distances in order to capture as much detail as possible.
Not least, you should document any loss of wages by submitting a letter on company letterhead from your employer, indicating the number of hours or days you were unable to work due to your injuries. In addition, your attorney can consult with an economist or a life care planner to assist you estimate the future losses that could be attributable to your injury. You should also prove the necessity for compensation to cover these costs. This kind of expert testimony can be extremely persuasive in a personal injury lawsuit. The more evidence you have, the more likely your lawyer will be to successfully negotiate on your behalf for a fair and total settlement with the insurance company of the at-fault person.
Witnesses
Witnesses play a vital role of any injury case. They can decide the outcome of your case. They can provide more evidence of the accident and their testimony can demonstrate how the accident affected your life. The more witnesses your lawyer has, the more convincing your case will be.
The first is an expert. An expert witness is someone whose education, training and work experience as well as their reputation in a particular field make them uniquely qualified to offer an opinion on a topic during the course of a trial. An expert witness could be a doctor for instance, who can testify to the extent of your injuries and the treatment you will need in the future.
injury lawsuit chicago or someone else who can explain your injury can also be an expert witness. For example, if you are suffering from a leg injury an orthopedic surgeon can tell the jury how the injury happened. Experts can explain to juries how a defect in a vehicle could be hazardous or to answer medical questions.
An experienced personal injury lawyer knows which experts to contact in the case. They can also locate witnesses with the right credentials. A professional lawyer can convince many witnesses to provide an official statement. Your lawyer may also suggest that you make a claim and issue a subpoena which can convince witnesses to take part in the personal injury lawsuit.
Social Media
If a person is recovering from an injury, it can be tempting to let friends and family know how happy they are through social media posts. But, doing this could be detrimental to your personal injury case. Slate published a recent article that offered real-life examples of how the social behavior of victims' on social media can harm their court cases. For instance, if complaining of severe pain and suffering as a result of your injuries and post a picture of yourself smiling and laughing on Facebook or Instagram and the defense attorneys of the defendant will use the evidence to prove that your claims of severe pain are exaggerated.
A significant amount of compensation in a personal injury case is for non-economic damage such as suffering and pain. The insurance company of the at-fault party will use whatever evidence they can to lower your claim's monetary value. This includes your social media profiles, accounts photographs, as well as private messages.
To avoid this, limit your use of social media and request your family and friends to do the same. If you are planning to use social media be sure to set your privacy settings to ensure that only those connected to you are able see your content. In certain cases your lawyer might advise that you avoid using social media while your case is active.