Essential Evidence to Build a Strong Alabama Personal Injury Case

When you are injured due to the actions of another party in Alabama, state law allows you to file a lawsuit or insurance claim against the responsible party to get compensation for the harm you suffered. However, just because you file a claim, that doesn’t mean the other party will simply hand you money. You need extensive evidence to prove your claim. Without that evidence, the insurance company or the courts will deny your claim, and you will get nothing. The following is essential evidence to build a strong Alabama personal injury case.

Eyewitness Testimony

Whether you are involved in a car accident or get burned while eating out at a restaurant, the odds are high that at least one other person witnessed the accident that resulted in your injury. This is good news because eyewitness testimony can be valuable both at trial and during an insurance claim. Unfortunately, eyewitness testimony can easily lose its value if the witness isn’t quickly interviewed by your personal injury lawyer.

Many people start to forget relevant details after only a few days. Some people may have trouble remembering relevant details after only a few hours have passed. It is critical for your lawyer to interview any witnesses and get their statements in writing as soon as possible. This means that you should, if possible, gather the contact information for any witnesses to the accident immediately after getting hurt. When you provide your attorney with this information promptly, they can call the witness and interview them within hours.

Eyewitnesses often begin to forget important details quickly. By collecting their contact information immediately and sharing it with your lawyer promptly, you increase the likelihood that their essential evidence will be helpful to your claim.

Physical Evidence

Unfortunately, Alabama personal injury cases are difficult to litigate. This is because defendants can use contributory negligence as an affirmative defense. This means that if you were even slightly responsible for your injuries, the other party is exempt from paying you any compensation. That is the strictest negligence standard and is used in only a few states.

To combat a contributory negligence defense, you need as much evidence as possible to support your claim. Physical evidence is one of the strongest types available. Unlike eyewitness testimony, which can potentially be inaccurate, physical evidence is much harder to contest. For example, if there is a video of the accident, the images in that video would be considered factually accurate, even if a witness remembered the events differently.

Typically, any physical evidence is collected by experienced investigators who know what they are looking for. You can help produce evidence by taking pictures of the accident scene and any injuries you suffered immediately after getting hurt. It also helps if you identify any closed-circuit cameras in the area and tell your lawyer that they are there.

Were you seriously hurt due to the actions of another in Alabama? You may be eligible to file a personal injury claim against the responsible party. Call Caldwell, Wenzel & Asthana, PC at (251) 444-7000 to schedule a free consultation to discuss your legal options.

Police Reports

If you are involved in a car accident in Alabama, you are required to notify Alabama police while at the accident scene. Typically, a police officer will arrive at the accident scene and create an accident report. This police report can be used by your lawyer as evidence during an injury claim. The police that arrive will investigate the accident and document everything that happened. Any report they create will also include the police officer’s opinion about which party was responsible for the accident. As long as that report points to the other party as the responsible driver, it is essential evidence for building a strong Alabama personal injury case.

Furthermore, police reports aren’t made only at car accidents. If you are seriously injured due to the actions of another party, you can report that accident to the police. This creates an official record of your injury, and, unless the police are very busy, a police officer will probably come to the scene of the accident to create a report. Be aware that some responsible parties will try to discourage you from calling the police. Business owners, for example, might try to offer you money to avoid getting the police involved. Some people might even threaten you. Ignore any objections and call the police anyway. This protects your rights, especially from people who are willing to resort to threats or coercion.

Financial Documents

There are two parts to a strong case: proving the other party is responsible and proving the value of your claim. It doesn’t matter how much evidence you have that the other party caused your injuries if you can’t prove the value of those injuries. Insurance companies and juries won’t take your word for it — you need essential evidence that proves that value. This means you should preserve documents like:

• Medical bills
• Bills for transportation costs due to your injuries
• Proof of daily wages and proof that you missed work time
• Other miscellaneous receipts related to your injuries.

Every single dollar that you spent or lost due to your injuries needs to be documented. It is easy for expenses to fall between the cracks, especially if you aren’t thinking about preserving receipts when you incur those expenses. For medical bills, also make sure that you preserve the medical records related to those bills so you can prove that the bills were directly related to the injuries you suffered.

Contact Caldwell, Wenzel & Asthana, PC Today

Successfully getting compensation for a personal injury claim in Alabama can be difficult. Despite that, our law firm has successfully obtained tens of millions of dollars for our clients.

If you want to protect your ability to get compensation after suffering an injury in Alabama, you need a law firm that has a proven record of success getting money from personal injury claims. Contact our law firm at (251) 444-7000 to schedule a free consultation.