How To Document Evidence For Your Personal Injury Case

Evidence in personal injury cases is critical for many reasons. It can make a difference when trying to show or prove liability and damages, doing so by verifying the injuries you’ve experienced. It also shows the treatment you received, the treatment you will need in the future, and justifies the compensation you deserve.

For these reasons you need to document evidence the right way for your personal injury case. This might seem challenging at first. But in this article, our personal injury lawyers have outlined the evidence you need to collect and the best ways to document it. Continue reading our article to find out all you need to know about documenting evidence.

Evidence Types

Medical records, photographs, witness statements, and expert opinions are the main evidence types you will need for your case. Each of these types of evidence is important for different reasons, which we have explained just below:

• Medical records can prove the injuries you’ve experienced and the treatment you received following the incident.
• Photographs of the scene, such as damage to the vehicles in a motor vehicle accident, can strengthen your claim and prove negligence.
• Witness statements can also strengthen your claim and can make your narrative more credible, offering another perspective of the accident that led to your injuries.
• Expert opinions provide specialized knowledge that also makes your narrative more credible.

In your case, you will need to gather these types of evidence in an organized way, and some of the ways you can do this are described in the section below.

Evidence Gathering Tips

With some immediate post-incident actions and best practices, you will find it easier to bring together the evidence needed for your personal injury claim. Here are the tips that can help you with these specific processes:

• Post-incident actions: These can include seeking immediate medical attention and reporting the incident to law enforcement officers. It can help you gain an important medical report and evidence in the form of a police report, respectively. You will also need to take steps to document the scene to begin building your case.
• Best practices: These can involve taking photographs of visible injuries and keeping medical records both before and after the incident. The evidence will show how the incident affected your lifestyle and can strengthen your claim.
• Detailed event records: You should maintain an in-depth record of the events that happened, the loss of income you have experienced, and the expenses you’ve had to pay during this time, which are relevant to your compensation claims.

Evidence Preservation

Keeping the evidence in its original state is key in cases like this; you will need to store physical evidence properly and back up digital evidence the right way. Beyond this, though, there are legal considerations to think about when preserving evidence, which we have looked at below:

• Physical evidence: Keep physical evidence like damaged clothing or belongings in the state they were in during the incident. If you can’t preserve the physical evidence perfectly, photographs can be invaluable and show the full impact of the incident. In addition, in the event of a slip and fall, it is important to maintain your footwear as it will likely be requested by the insurer.
• Digital evidence: When you gather digital evidence, such as videos you record, photographs, social media posts, surveillance footage, and more, it should be backed up and preserved.
• Legal considerations: Destroying or altering evidence is known as spoliation and goes against the judicial process. You will need to retain the evidence, not just because a legal team requires it but because altering the evidence can affect your chances of receiving a settlement.

Evidence Organization

The evidence you collect needs to be organized; it can involve putting together an evidence log, including technology to manage the evidence, categorizing each type of evidence, and being systematic when storing it.

Your evidence log is a methodically organized collection of evidence for your case. You will be able to keep it all organized by creating a code for each type of evidence in the log. But, beyond this, it is important to organize it in chronological order so you can refer to the evidence with ease.

You can also include cloud storage technology and timestamp evidence. This can mean you have fewer chances of losing the evidence and further proof of the course of events, respectively.

Evidence Presentation

Following the evidence-gathering process, you will need to prepare the evidence for legal proceedings. It is a complex process with various steps:

• Identify witnesses and create a proposed witnesses list
• Get affidavits from witnesses if they are unable to be present in court
• Prepare photographs and video evidence
• Serve the evidence before the trial
• File the evidence and make copies

Presenting the evidence and building a strong case is easier with the support of a personal injury firm with years of experience. Lawyers are well-versed in the legal system and know the role evidence plays in building your case. For this reason, we highly recommend contacting and collaborating with a lawyer. You can rely on legal representation to be successful in your case.

Contact the Personal Injury Lawyers at Ristich Law

If you need help with gathering or organizing evidence, a personal injury lawyer can help. With three convenient locations to serve you, the personal injury lawyers at Ristich Law are here to help you navigate their personal injury claim.

Contact our accident lawyers today. Let our team help you gather evidence for the claim process and obtain the maximum compensation you deserve.