Five Things to Bring to Your First Meeting With Lawyers
Before meeting your personal injury attorney for the first time, you may be unsure about what to bring to the meeting that will assist your representative in successfully litigating your case.
Here are five things that most Lawyers need to properly evaluate a personal injury matter: 1) Accident reports prepared by police officers, state troopers or sheriffs contain important information about other driver(s), where the accident occurred, under what conditions and who may have been at fault.
They help identify the insurance company which represents the negligent driver, as well as provide the driver's license number, enabling your lawyer to run that person's driving history and record.
Accident reports also contain codes that your attorney will be able to read using special deciphering charts, which contain information about direction of vehicles' traveling immediately prior to the occurrence, weather conditions at the time, presence of any traffic lights or signs, and points of impact to the vehicle.
Reviewing the reports helps your representative decide how strong your case is and predict if comparative negligence issues will arise during litigation.
2) Identity and contact information for witnesses of the occurrence help your attorney determine, from the neutral and impartial person's perspective, which was at fault for the accident.
In case of a two car collision, a witness is often a pedestrian waiting to cross at the intersection, which sees one car strike another.
His statement if vital to the evidence and may make or break the case depending on what this impartial person tells the attorney.
3) Records of medical and hospital treatment, x-ray and MRI reports, as well as prior treating records for similar injuries are very important to Lawyers, in helping them evaluate a case.
If the reports contain information detrimental to the victim's case, such as that the injured party's blood alcohol level was above the normal limit at the time of the accident, the attorney may decide not to proceed with the litigation, since chances of recovery will be diminished due to evidence of intoxication.
Records of pre-existing injuries or proof that the client was treating for the same condition at the time of the accident will affect the possibility of recovery and your attorney will discuss these records in detail with you.
4) Property damage records, photographs of accident scene and of damage to the victim's vehicle are invaluable to any Lawyer.
It is often said that a picture tells the story, and in case of photographs showing that the victim's vehicle has sustained damage to its rear bumper will help the attorney prove that said vehicle was rear ended, as his client contends.
The pictures become very important in cases of questionable or disputed liability, as they often help prove a case.
5) Letters and forms sent from an insurance company should be brought to your lawyers as soon as they are received.
Many of the documents that need to be filled out have deadlines by which they are to be submitted and your Lawyers will make sure that all the forms are properly filled and timely sent to the right destination.
Here are five things that most Lawyers need to properly evaluate a personal injury matter: 1) Accident reports prepared by police officers, state troopers or sheriffs contain important information about other driver(s), where the accident occurred, under what conditions and who may have been at fault.
They help identify the insurance company which represents the negligent driver, as well as provide the driver's license number, enabling your lawyer to run that person's driving history and record.
Accident reports also contain codes that your attorney will be able to read using special deciphering charts, which contain information about direction of vehicles' traveling immediately prior to the occurrence, weather conditions at the time, presence of any traffic lights or signs, and points of impact to the vehicle.
Reviewing the reports helps your representative decide how strong your case is and predict if comparative negligence issues will arise during litigation.
2) Identity and contact information for witnesses of the occurrence help your attorney determine, from the neutral and impartial person's perspective, which was at fault for the accident.
In case of a two car collision, a witness is often a pedestrian waiting to cross at the intersection, which sees one car strike another.
His statement if vital to the evidence and may make or break the case depending on what this impartial person tells the attorney.
3) Records of medical and hospital treatment, x-ray and MRI reports, as well as prior treating records for similar injuries are very important to Lawyers, in helping them evaluate a case.
If the reports contain information detrimental to the victim's case, such as that the injured party's blood alcohol level was above the normal limit at the time of the accident, the attorney may decide not to proceed with the litigation, since chances of recovery will be diminished due to evidence of intoxication.
Records of pre-existing injuries or proof that the client was treating for the same condition at the time of the accident will affect the possibility of recovery and your attorney will discuss these records in detail with you.
4) Property damage records, photographs of accident scene and of damage to the victim's vehicle are invaluable to any Lawyer.
It is often said that a picture tells the story, and in case of photographs showing that the victim's vehicle has sustained damage to its rear bumper will help the attorney prove that said vehicle was rear ended, as his client contends.
The pictures become very important in cases of questionable or disputed liability, as they often help prove a case.
5) Letters and forms sent from an insurance company should be brought to your lawyers as soon as they are received.
Many of the documents that need to be filled out have deadlines by which they are to be submitted and your Lawyers will make sure that all the forms are properly filled and timely sent to the right destination.
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