Like with any legal case, if there is no evidence to support your personal injury case, there isn’t a very good chance you will be unsuccessful at getting compensation for your injuries. For personal injuries, much of your success rests on proving negligence of another party. Proving this allows you to collect compensation for your injuries, some of which may last a lifetime.
Whether it was a slip and fall or your standard car accident, personal injury cases are always complicated. However, if you and your lawyer are able to build a strong case through the presence of strong evidence, it will become less complex and less stressful for you, the injured party who is already tasked with the difficult job of healing. However, most who pursue personal injury cases don’t even know what to look for when it comes to evidence. In many cases, your lawyer will know just what to look for. Yet, some evidence can be somewhat time-sensitive, meaning if you know what to look for, you can preserve it before seeking a lawyer and starting your case.
What Evidence Proves a Personal Injury Case?
The thing about personal injury cases is that the term is so broad that it covers a large number of different accidents. This means that the evidence you have the potential to gather can change on a case-by-case basis. However, for the most part, it is pretty standard.
Video and Photographs of the Accident
Being able to visually show the accident occurring or even the scene of the accident can go a long way as proof. For example, if you were involved in a slip and fall in a store because an employee mopped, but didn’t put up a sufficient warning sign, it can help to have visual proof. It not only helps your case if a video camera catches you falling on the spot, but it can be even more helpful to show an employee mopping just five minutes before. This sets up all the events of an accident and puts all the pieces into place. Without that same visual evidence, it makes the case infinitely more difficult to prove, but definitely not impossible.
However, while video is best, pictures can be just as helpful. This is particularly true with auto accidents where it is unlikely the event was caught on tape. Taking pictures of the scene can help traffic reconstruction experts reconstruct the scene of the accident. As it is their job and they both skilled and highly respected by the courts, their opinions on simple pictures of your accident can be used as valuable evidence.
Witness Statements
When there are no videos or pictures of an accident or the scene of an accident, much of the burden of evidence will fall to the testimony of those who saw it happen. In personal injury cases, witness testimony from those who saw the accident as well as expert witness testimony is very valuable. Unfortunately, the major issue with many accident incidents is that you are too focused on your injuries to go around collecting witness contact information.
In the above example of a slip and fall in a store, it would fall to the store owner or management to gather witness contact information, but chances are that they wouldn’t. Fortunately, in most cases of store accidents, employees can serve as witnesses since customers will be near impossible to track down.
In most cases, witnesses are valuable, but often difficult to track down. However, much of that process falls to your lawyer. So you need not have to worry about it yourself.
Detailed Documentation of the Injuries
It is crucial to remember that in personal injury cases, if there is no injury, there can be no case. If someone jumps out and scares you, if you fall on your rear and there is not even a bruise, you can’t pursue a personal injury case for being startled. If there were injuries as a result of an accident, you are entitled to pursue pain and suffering for having to go through that, but the important piece to remember is that you must be able to prove injuries exist.
In most cases, injuries are pretty obvious. A broken arm or a serious laceration is pretty obvious and very easy to prove. Unfortunately, there are potential injuries that are not quite so visually obvious. Take, for example, the classic case of whiplash. It is a common injury that results from car accidents, in particular. Unfortunately, whiplash is one of those injuries that can be easy to claim, but difficult to prove actually exists. In order to do so, you not only need the testimony of respected doctor, but physical evidence such as x-rays and CT scans. It is also important that you keep track of the bills you paid for these procedures as well, or risk not getting compensation for them.
The Police Report
Not all accidents result in the police being called, but they should. Unfortunately, when someone says police, often they think that it will result in an arrest. However, in most accident cases, the police are simply there for irrefutable documentation. A police report details the scene of the accident and records their opinions on how it went down. Furthermore, it is the officer’s job to record witness statements as well as get their contact information. This means that you, the injured party, can seek treatment while the police gather what could be important evidence for a later personal injury case.
If you were in an accident and need to be taken to the hospital, you should always be sure to request that the police come and record the crime scene. Although, usually if an ambulance needs to come, the police will usually arrive with it.
Need Help?
Have you been in an accident in the St. Paul area? If that accident was not your fault, then you shouldn’t be stuck with the bill. This is where seeking the help of a skilled personal injury attorney comes in. We can fight to make sure that you get the compensation that you deserve. Contact us today to see what Swor & Gatto can do for you.