The Importance of Witness Testimony in Personal Injury Cases

Recognize the Importance of Eyewitnesses

There is no guarantee that eyewitnesses to a Fresno car accident will stick around to provide a witness statement.  If you are capable of moving and thinking clearly after your accident, flag down all potential witnesses and ask them if they saw the accident.  Record each witness’ statement with your smartphone and email the recorded audio/video file to yourself so you have a backup copy stored in your email’s inbox folder as a backup.

Capturing eyewitness statements with your smartphone is important as this evidence can be used in a court of law to support your claim that another party or several other parties acted negligently.  Negligence is a legal term commonly used by Fresno personal injury lawyers to refer to the failure to provide due care to those in one’s vicinity.  So don’t forget to write down or save the witness’s name, phone number, address, and other important contact information for future reference.

Eyewitness statements can also be included in police reports that formally document the Fresno car accident.  There is even the potential for one or several eyewitnesses to testify in support of your side of the story in a court of law.  Such eyewitness testimony will significantly improve your chances of obtaining the money you need to pay for medical care, lost wages, pain, suffering, and additional losses.

 

Recognize the Fallibility of the Human Memory

If your Fresno car accident claim is not settled outside of court, there is the potential for it to be decided in a court of law.  Though some car accident claim negotiations continue through court proceedings, it is quite possible that your personal injury lawsuit will move to the discovery phase and beyond.  If your case reaches discovery, eyewitness testimony will become even more important.

The value of eyewitness testimony to your accident will be that much greater if the observer’s words in a court of law are backed up by a witness statement made at the scene of the accident.

Furthermore, eyewitness testimony provided in a court of law will also prove that much more impactful if it is backed up by witness statements made to the responding police officer.  The details of the witness statement will likely be included in the police officer’s report pertaining to the crash, so be sure to encourage all witnesses to remain at the scene of the accident until the police officer arrives.  The alternative is to simply write down or enter the witness’s name and contact information into your smartphone and have him or she testify on your behalf in court.

Though such eyewitness testimony in a court of law will certainly be a boon for your case, it won’t be nearly as effective as it would have been if backed up by recorded statements made immediately after the accident.  Do your part to capture the details of the witness statement at the accident while they are fresh in the witness’s mind and opposing counsel won’t have the opportunity to argue the witness’s memory of the event is inaccurate months after the accident has occurred.

 

Your Fresno Personal Injury Lawyer’s Role in Preserving Witness Testimony

You don’t have to do all the work to preserve witness testimony on your own.  Our Fresno personal injury attorney is here to help.  As an example, the use of an affidavit will preserve witness testimony.  The affidavit serves as an essential component of the case. This sworn statement is signed by witnesses who recount the details of the accident.

Our personal injury attorney in Fresno will also take a deposition from the witness.  Depositions are question and answers sessions in which the witness responds while under oath.  The recording of the session is an integral component of the case’s official record.  Lean on our Fresno personal injury attorney to take the witness deposition during discovery and obtain witness affidavits and the stage will be set to win your case.