Is Your Evidence Compelling Enough?
Many people who are victims of negligence from other parties believe that their personal injuries are valid grounds to seek legal action, and ultimately win legal battles involving compensation. However this isn't how personal injury laws were set. If you're injured and considering taking the matter to court, then it's important that you determine whether your evidence is substantial enough to guarantee legal victory. Please keep on reading to find out how you can measure your likelihood of success.
Before the trial occurs
From the moment you reach out to the negligent party, you'll be asked to submit many documents and undergo different medical examinations such as depositions, medical examinations, and interrogatories. This phase is usually referred to as pretrial discovery and allows defendants to gather their own evidence.
At this stage, you should have already hired a personal injury attorney as they are going to tell you what lies ahead. The other party will pick a few qualified physicians who will examine you, and will use the issued medical reports against you in a court, provided that no preliminary agreement on the compensation is found.
Once the defendant has all of their evidence in their hands, they'll contact your attorney to propose a settlement. In certain cases, the other party may even determine that the injuries you've sustained aren't significant enough to justify any payment. In this situation, you'll need to decide whether or not you want to sue them. Assuming that you're acting upon your lawyer's advice, you'll need to file a motion for summary judgment.
Comparing medical evidence
Once the matter has been taken the court, you no longer have any control over when it'll be settled. This means that depending on the tactics used by the other party, several months, and sometimes years, may pass before the court gives a verdict. What will determine the outcome of the litigation procedure is the ability of your attorney to prove that your evidence is more than compelling. In particular, the weight of medical evidence is so significant that it'll basically determine which party wins.
This is why it's so important to properly assess the extent of the injuries before going to court. Indeed, the last thing you want is to go through all this legal hassle and lose the case at the end.
If you use to think that legal representation was enough to guarantee victory, then know from now on that unless your evidence is compelling, your chances of success will be slim regardless of how good your attorney is.