The key to winning any legal case, including personal injury suits, is gathering the right amount, and right type, of evidence. Building your case on strong evidence is the difference between definitively proving your personal injury case and getting your settlement or going home with nothing. However, many people who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the legal system may find it difficult to gather evidence if they don’t know what to look for. Keep reading for some tips for gathering evidence for a personal injury claim, and find out why it’s a good idea to consult a personal injury attorney to help you prove your case.
- Consult the Police
If you’re fortunate, there will be a police report stemming from your personal injury. If there is, then this report is your best source for concrete evidence that will help prove your claim in a court of law. Police reports tend to be straight forward, without embellishment, and will contain just the facts of your case. Contact your local police department, or the officer that reported to the scene of your injury, to find out if it would be possible to obtain a copy of the report taken at your accident. Working from this report, and consulting the officer that wrote it, is some of the strongest evidence that you can gather.
- Document Everything and Create Back Ups
Anyone that has experience in legal matters knows that it’s important to construct a long paper trail, and this is particularly true when it comes to your personal injury case. Document absolutely everything that you think might have bearing on your personal injury suit, even the facts that appear completely inconsequential. It’s also important to back up everything you record. Print everything in triplicate; make digital and hard copies; put crucial evidence in a secure location, such as a bank lock box. Securing all the documents and information related to your case is the most important thing you can do when gathering evidence.
- Prevent Evidence Destruction with a Spoliation Letter
One of the biggest obstacles in a personal injury lawsuit is the destruction of evidence. Cases involving businesses have a high incidence of evidence destruction, and you need to do everything in your power to keep this from happening. Immediately following your injury, you need to hire a personal injury attorney to draft and send a spoliation letter. This letter will serve as notice that if a business destroys evidence related to your case, then it will be presumed that the evidence would have been detrimental to the liable parties, and may result in a spoliation charge. Sending this letter will go a long way towards protecting the evidence in your case and make it more likely you will get the settlement you deserve.
Consult a Personal Injury Attorney
Gathering the right evidence is the most important thing you can do in pursuit of winning your personal injury law suit. However, gathering evidence can often be a difficult, drawn out process that many personal injury claimants are unprepared for. Get help gathering evidence by hiring a personal injury lawyer from the Tatum Law Firm.
At the Tatum Law Firm, we serve our clients in North and South Carolina to the best of our abilities, fighting for you until you get the claim you deserve. Request a consultation today and begin the process of filing your personal injury suit.