How Do You Preserve Evidence for Your Virginia Personal Injury Claim?
The hours that follow an accident are more crucial than you think. What you do in the hours that follow can either help or hinder your personal injury claim. Evidence, photographs, and medical records support your claim and help you get the justice and compensation you deserve.
“Evidence fades fast, and memories even faster. Acting quickly is critical to proving your claim,” says Wiley J. Latham of Latham & Martin Personal Injury Attorneys.
Let us dive into what evidence is crucial and how we can hold on to it before it is gone.
Act Quickly
Time is not on your side after an accident. The evidence will soon disappear. People will forget things, and physical evidence can be gone in just a few hours. Take pictures of everything, including cars, roads, weather, and lighting. These pictures will give you evidence of exactly what happened before anything is moved or fixed.
Interview witnesses while they are still around. Get their names and phone numbers. The more they can remember at the scene, the more it can help you later on if you have questions.
Remember to write down things like skid marks, debris, and anything else that is damaged. The sooner you can document everything, the better chance you have of proving exactly what happened and making your case stick.
Seek Immediate Medical Attention
Not only is getting treatment important for your health, but it is also important to your claim. Every time you visit a doctor or undergo a test or diagnosis, you are creating a paper trail that connects your injuries to the accident.
If you do not seek treatment right away, the insurance company uses this to their advantage and claims that you are not as hurt as you say you are, or that you are not hurt at all.
Tell all of the doctors you visit everything that happened and all of the symptoms you are experiencing, even those that seem minor. This way, you create a paper trail from the beginning that tells the complete story of what happened.
Store and Back Up Evidence
Once you have gathered all your photographs, videos, and documents, it is essential to store them safely. Digital storage also provides you with an added advantage; hence, you are not stuck even if something is lost or stolen.
Upload everything to secure cloud storage or use an encrypted hard drive. That way, if your device crashes, your evidence is still right there when you need it. Using digital storage services such as Google Drive or Dropbox is also beneficial because they automatically store and update your files without your knowledge.
Send a Spoliation Letter
A spoliation letter is a letter you send to the other party telling them to hold onto anything they have related to your case. Once they receive this letter, they are under an obligation to hold onto anything they have, whether it is documents, pictures, videos, or anything else that can be considered evidence of your claim.
This is important, especially if you are up against businesses and insurance companies that have evidence, such as videos, maintenance records, and more. This is usually done right after an incident occurs. It is important to do this quickly to prevent evidence from being thrown away.
Work With a Lawyer
When working on personal injury cases, having a personal injury lawyer on hand right away makes a big difference. They know what to look for, where to look for it, and how to keep it from disappearing. A good lawyer will issue the subpoenas promptly, work with witnesses, and keep the paperwork organized.
Look for someone who has handled these kinds of cases many times before, someone who has dealt with insurance companies and knows the ins and outs. Do not be shy about asking how they have done with their past cases, how they will keep in touch with you, and what their rates are. Most importantly, look for someone you trust to work quickly and collect all the evidence immediately.
