Car Accident Law

How Car Accident Victims Can Help Fight for Their Rights

Drivers who are injured in auto accidents hire attorneys to fight on their behalf. It is the attorney’s job to present the best possible case—to show how the accident has adversely affected their clients’ lives, and to advocate for fair compensation. However, this isn’t to say that accident victims should suddenly become passive spectators of the personal injury process, a process whose outcome may have a profound effect on their ability to care for themselves and their families. To the contrary, accident victims can—and should—take an active role in helping their attorney achieve the best possible outcome. Indeed, the clients’ own efforts and preparation can make all the difference, but this does require that accident victims empower themselves with knowledge about how the personal injury process works. Let’s consider two examples: properly documenting injuries and giving an effective deposition.

Properly documenting injuries is vital to building a successful case.

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of making sure that accident-related injuries are properly documented. This documentation is what insurance companies use to determine the value of the case. The responsibility for injury documentation is shared by accident victims and their doctors, each of whom is looking at the situation from somewhat different, though equally important angles. The physician is responsible for recording the nature of the injuries, any diagnostic procedures that patients undergo, as well as all care and treatment they receive—in other words, from a medical perspective. The accident victim’s job is to record the ways in which their injuries impact them from a personal perspective: the pain they feel, the activities they can no longer engage in, as well as any other ways in which the injuries have impacted their life. Neither the attorney nor the doctor has access to this crucial information. And only when this information is fully and diligently recorded will it be taken into account by insurance companies. Clients who have educated themselves about injury documentation—clients who understand how it fits into the personal injury process—will likely be motivated to keep records of the daily challenges they endure on the path to healing.

Deposition testimony can make or break a case.

For most accident victims, the deposition is an anxiety-producing experience. It’s the first time that they get to meet the opposing attorney, whose questions are tailored to knock them off balance, expose inconsistencies and bring to light information that would damage their case. Victims’ attorneys are present to ensure that the rules are followed, but during the deposition—unlike at other stages of the litigation process—they do not speak for their clients. The accident victim alone must answer the opposing lawyer’s questions. That’s why accident victims must work closely with their attorney in preparing for the deposition process. Clients who take it upon themselves to fully understand this important facet of the litigation process—its role, rules and guidelines—are far more likely to give effective testimony.

Clients who take an active role in their case can have better outcomes than those who don’t.

Injury documentation and the deposition process are only two among many stages in the personal injury process in which accident victims have a critical role to play. An understanding of how they can contribute to their own case, and how to best assist their attorney, can not only help secure a successful outcome, but can offer a sense of empowerment. The feeling of being in control of our destiny is far more important to our well-being than we are apt to realize, and it is often one of the most painful losses endured by victims of serious collisions. For those seeking the full fairness of our legal system, finding out that there is a great deal that they can do to fight for themselves—alongside their attorney—is an important first step in combating the sense of victimhood and recovering from a painful and challenging ordeal.