Role of an Expert Witnesses in Injury Cases
A personal injury case relies on various types of evidence. At Surasky Law Firm, we have the experience necessary to construct a strong legal argument, and expert witnesses often play a starring role. From helping us establish fault for the crash to proving your damages, these experts can make or break a case. Contact us to find out more about how we use expert witnesses.
Accident Reconstruction
To win a personal injury case, we need to show who is at fault. Suppose you are hurt in a car crash. We want to identify which motorist is to blame for the wreck. If you are 100% at fault, then you won’t receive anything.
Accident reconstruction is often useful at helping us visualize what happened. A reconstruction expert can review all evidence, including witness testimony, and then create a video or 3-D model to show how the accident unfolded. This type of visual aid is very persuasive. It helps bring the accident to “life” and can convince a skeptical claims adjuster or juror that you were not at fault for your accident.
A reconstruction expert isn’t necessary in every case. Sometimes, the evidence points in one direction and it’s easy to see how you were hurt. But in complex cases, a reconstruction expert can really paint a vivid picture of what happened and ultimately who is liable for your injuries.
Medical Experts
Our clients typically suffer serious bodily injuries in accidents. They might struggle with concussions, whiplash, back injuries, amputation, nerve damage, or fractures. Some injuries are visible—think of a person who loses an arm in a motorcycle accident. Other injuries are invisible to the naked eye—such as complex regional pain syndrome caused by a car wreck.
Expert witnesses can help us understand:
How the accident caused your injury;
The severity of your injury;
Your prognosis;
What pain you are likely experiencing;
Whether you will still have disabilities once you reach maximum medical improvement.
We can work with various medical experts, including surgeons, primary care physicians, and specialists.
We also can work with psychologists. We definitely want to understand the link between a bodily injury and your mental health, because some clients struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, or another disorder. A psychologist is very helpful at convincing skeptical claims adjusters that you are really struggling emotionally.
Financial Experts
When a victim suffers a minor injury, they are probably fully healed when it comes time to negotiate a settlement. That’s helpful, because the victim’s financial losses are fully known—things like medical care and lost income.
But someone who suffers catastrophic injuries will suffer future losses. Someone with a serious spinal cord injury could need someone to help them at home for decades, as well as future surgeries to address any deterioration of the spinal column. Under South Carolina law, you can seek compensation for future damages if you can establish them with reasonable certainty.
An expert can help:
Calculate the cost of future, ongoing medical care. Do you need future surgery or rehab? The expert can assign a dollar value.
Estimate the value of diminished earning capacity, when you cannot return to your old job due to disability. An expert will look at your income right before the accident. Using various calculations, they can estimate how much you will lose over your normal life due to disability.
We might use various experts, including accountants, vocational rehabilitation experts, and others. They will help us put a dollar amount to your claim, so you receive full compensation.
Without the help of these experts, any number you propose is pure speculation. You can guess how much you will lose in future income because of an amputated limb, but the other side can reject that number. And if you go to trial, a jury doesn’t have to accept your guess. Expert witnesses can “show their work” and back it up with evidence.
How to Find the Right Experts
Without the right experts, it’s easy to lose a personal injury case. You might be unable to prove who is at fault for the accident. You might also be unable to receive fair compensation because you haven’t proved the severity of your injuries or future losses.
An expert should have the right education credentials and experience. They should be a credible witness who excels at testifying in front of other people. Experts can make complicated issues easy to understand.
Experts can testify about things they did not directly observe. Typically, judges exclude any type of testimony unless a person is directly familiar with what happened. In other words, a witness can only testify about an accident if they saw it or otherwise experienced it.
Expert witnesses are an exception to this general rule. They can offer their expert opinion to the jury. However, it’s critical to use only the best experts. A judge doesn’t have to let in expert testimony.
What should injured victims do? Do you have to search for an expert witness yourself?
No. Instead, contact an experienced law firm. Surasky Law has developed a network of professional experts over the years for our personal injury practice. We know these experts are compelling and can help strengthen our clients’ cases.
Dueling Experts
In some personal injury cases, both sides have an expert witness. These experts will offer diametrically opposed testimony. For example, different accident reconstruction experts can analyze the evidence differently and paint alternate views of how you were hurt.
We know how to assess the credibility of the other side’s expert witness. We can also work to poke holes in how they analyzed the known facts.
Speak with an Aiken Personal Injury Lawyer
Our firm will use whatever evidence is necessary to win a personal injury case. When used in the right way, an expert witness can provide a real boost to your chances. Call Surasky Law Firm if you were hurt in any type of accident. We will start working on your case without any requirement of upfront fees. We can explain more in a consultation.
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