How a Witness Can Strengthen Your Personal Injury Claim

When you go to trial for any type of personal injury claim, eye and expert witnesses can make or break your case. Witness testimonies are very often the difference between winning a case or walking away with zero compensation, so it makes sense that choosing the right experts and on-scene witnesses can help strengthen your claim and potentially sway a judge or jury in your favor.

Our team of personal injury specialists has helped countless clients by providing expert witnesses to help explain some of the more complex elements of a case, which typically are invaluable interpretations that are instrumental in terms of fortifying any type of injury claim. Witnesses who were there at the scene of an accident will also always have the ability to support your side of the story and help explain what exactly happened.

In this page, we’ll discuss the importance of both laymen and expert witnesses, and how our team of attorneys can help you find witnesses that can ultimately be one of the defining factors in terms of receiving your rightful compensation.

If you have any questions at all about our expert witnesses or how you can utilize witness testimonies to strengthen your claim, reach out to us for a free consultation so we can review your case and help you determine what’s available to you in terms of your legal options.

Who Can Be One of Your Witnesses?

When it comes to layman witnesses, these people typically need to have actually seen the accident occur, but witnesses can also be anyone who arrived on an accident scene moments afterward and simply noticed your injuries and overall damages.

Witnesses can also be anyone who simply heard one of the cases involved parties talking about the accident in a way that implied that the fault of the accident was on someone other than you.

How Should You Approach On-Site Witnesses? 

It’s important to remain as polite as possible when you are talking to people who were at the scene of your accident, and if they’re unwilling to talk to you for whatever reasoning you shouldn’t push them because there isn’t much you can do except potentially file a subpoena, which hopefully isn’t necessary.

If a witness does agree to cooperate and talk to you, then you should write down their name, phone number and address. This is one of the many reasons why you should always carry a car accident diary, and it will always go a long way if you can paraphrase a written statement from the witness as soon as possible and then send a typed copy to them to review, sign and return to you. The same goes for video statements as well, which also need to be reviewed and verified later on by the witness.

A lot of witnesses want to help people out in terms of proving who was at fault for an accident, but many people simply are wary about getting too involved. If you can make it easier for witnesses to have their perspective officially heard then you might have a better chance at obtaining multiple witnesses that can corroborate what happened on your behalf.

What Makes an Individual an Expert Witness? 

Expert witnesses are always renowned professionals in their respective industries, and they have the education, experience and specialized training to be able to provide legitimate evidence for your personal injury claim. These types of witnesses are very important when there are no eyewitnesses to a specific accident scene, but they are also an essential aspect of a case’s success for several other crucial purposes.

A witness is considered an expert when they possess some of the following attributes:

• A renowned reputation
• Verified, experienced credentials
• Educational and professional experience
• Past publications
• Prior experience being an expert witness

Types of Experts You May Need 

The types of experts you’ll need will depend upon the facts involved within your case, and some experts called in personal injury cases include the following examples:

• Accident Reconstructionist — These engineering experts know as much as anyone when it comes to vehicle dynamics, car crash mechanics, and event data recording technology. They’ll be able to fully investigate a vehicular accident and better determine the vehicle’s speed and other factors that contributed to the actual cause of the car crash.

• Phone Records Specialist — These specialists are also very useful when it comes to proving negligence within vehicular crashes because they’ll be able to examine a person’s incoming and outgoing cell phone calls if there is any suspicion that cell phone usage leads to a crash. This can help determine whether or not the driver was distracted at the time of the accident.

• Medical Specialists — It’s sometimes fine for a plaintiff’s personal doctors to testify and present the victim’s medical evidence, but there are many instances in which insurance adjusters and courts will want a more impartial testimony in order to confirm the justification for the compensation. These types of specialists can include neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, toxicologists and all sorts of other medical experts then help examine and explain the plaintiff’s medical records.

• Life Care Planner — There are many instances in which an accident victim becomes permanently disabled or suffers from lifelong pain, and in these situations, it’s sometimes difficult to fully determine the overall costs that are needed to support the victim’s long-term care. These experts are able to provide the necessary information in terms of the overall costs associated with long-term rehabilitation, medical care, potential earnings and much more.

• Economic Expert — Economists are the professionals who will know the most in terms of earning capacity, cost of living, inflation, and other factors that can detrimentally affect an accident victim’s overall ability to earn a living. They are also experts who can confidently calculate any type of potential financial losses that result from employment changes as a result of any specific injuries.

• Some other expert witnesses are from mental health, science, vocational rehabilitation, automotive and forensics.

What Distinguishes Expert Witness Testimonies

There are certain parameters around utilizing expert testimonies in court, and these testimonies must include the following:

• The overall technical, scientific or specialized knowledge of the expert helping the judge or jury better understand the case’s facts and evidence.

• A strong basis in facts or data.

• The expert’s testimony must come from dependable practices and principles, and these must be relevant to the case’s facts.

It’s also important to state that a layperson testimony is limited in that they are only allowed to talk about some of a case’s facts, and their testimonies are typically limited to their own opinions. Only expert witnesses can testify to things like the scientific and technical elements of a case.

Benefits of Expert Witness Testimonies

Expert witnesses can help strengthen personal injury claims in a whole variety of ways, including the following very important elements:

• Establishing Negligence: All personal injury cases require a plaintiff to prove a defendant’s duty of care and a general breach of that duty of care. There are many situations in which an expert witness that’s from the same professional field as the defendant can help establish what the defendant’s duty of care was in the specific situation, and if the defendant upheld their duty or not.

• Clarity: A lot of personal injury cases require an exorbitant amount of evidence, which leaves some evidence hard to fully understand. That’s why experts can be utilized in terms of clearly explaining certain pieces of evidence while simultaneously providing key information to help a judge or jury make their decisions.

• Neutral Testimony: Experts aren’t someone who is close to the plaintiff, which helps remove any type of biases. There are many testimonies that can be viewed as partial to a plaintiff’s favor, but expert witnesses are always deemed more objective. This helps make expert testimonies more acceptable in court.

Contact Our Team of Injury & Accident Attorneys Today for Assistance 

If you or a loved one was injured in any type of accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, then layman and expert witnesses will be able to provide a lot of valuable evidence to help support your claim. DuBoff & Associates has been able to build a successful track record with our three decades of experience as a leading personal injury firm in the Maryland, Virginia and D.C. areas.

Our attorneys will always work diligently to strengthen your case and secure your maximum, rightful compensation. Schedule a free consultation today to talk to one of our experts about your case, and what your legal options are.