7 Tips for Preserving Evidence in Your Personal Injury Case

When you have a personal injury case in Nevada, evidence is key to proving that your claims are valid. It is how the court decides who to believe, and it is how the court determines the extent of your damages. In an injury case, you present evidence to meet the burden of proof and win your case.

Although presenting the correct evidence is crucial to ensuring a successful outcome in your injury case, one aspect of evidence that is often overlooked is the need to preserve it. It is important to know what steps you should take to protect evidence after being injured in an accident to ensure you have enough to prove that your version of events is accurate.

How does the evidence affect the case?

When you are injured after an accident, the evidence can help the jury reach the correct result quickly. It can even help you settle your case without a trial. If the other party reluctantly acknowledges that you have a strong case, they are more likely to be willing to offer you a settlement right before trial.

If they don’t think you’ve done the work to build the evidence in your case, they might decide to roll the dice in hopes that they can confuse the jury and get away with paying you less than you deserve. Here are seven tips to preserve evidence in the case of personal injury in Las Vegas .

1. Write it down

After the injury occurs, the details of the event may be clear in your mind. Although you may think that you could never forget the details of something so shocking, memories can fade over time. Also, an aspect that you may not think is necessary may become critical later on.

The best thing to do is take some time as soon as you can to write down all the details you can think of. This account of the event will be an excellent starting point for your attorney to begin gathering the details and building your case.

2. Ask others to write it down

Just as their memory may fade, witnesses may also experience a memory lapse as time passes. It is essential to lock the witnesses in your story as soon as possible. Putting them on the record prevents them from changing their story, and makes sure to record the details before they can forget the things that may be useful to you.

Related: Tips for Dealing with Witnesses in an Injury Case

How you should obtain witness statements in the registry depends on the circumstances of the case. A cooperative witness can sit down and give you a written account of the events. If a witness does not want to participate, you can send them a notice to make a formal deposition. If the other party has the opportunity to cross-examine the witness, he or she may be able to admit the witness testimony at trial.

3. Inspect the scene

A personal injury case is often centered around the scene of the accident. The scene itself may have valuable information that can show your version of events is plausible and probable. For example, if you are injured due to a faulty handrail on a steep flight of stairs, you may need to revisit the scene of the accident to inspect the handrail, as well as the going up and down the stairs.

If you are the victim of a car accident , returning to the scene can help you examine the layout of the road to determine the specific details of how the accident occurred, even taking into account things like the speed and trajectory of the vehicle. You can work with an accident reconstruction professional to interpret the clues you find at the scene of the accident.

4. Take photos

Photos can go a long way in convincing the jury that your version of events is correct. You don’t need to be a professional photographer or have a professional camera to take photos that are valuable to you.

A few photos with your smartphone can do the trick. Take photographs of the accident scene and any equipment involved. Don’t forget to take photos of your injuries and update those photos as your injuries heal. These images can help jurors better understand your pain.

5. Diary of your injuries

Medical appointments and bills can be difficult to follow after an injury. It is important to document your treatment, your plan of care, and your progress. Use a journal to record your appointments, expenses of any kind, and your pain levels.

Keep copies of all your medical bills and explanations of benefits. Be on the lookout for your injuries and pain, but don’t overdo it. This record keeping can be critical in helping you build your case later.

6. Don’t wait

When you waste time, you lose evidence. The accident scene may not look the same anytime soon from now. One party may be quick to change things to hide valuable evidence. Witnesses may walk away or forget important things. There are even time limits for filing a claim for your injury losses.

These are all good reasons to start collecting evidence right away. The more evidence you can gather right away, the more things you will have to do to build a strong case. Better to have too much evidence than not enough, and your attorney can give you helpful instructions for gathering the evidence you need to build your case.

7. Assess the looting of evidence

Of course, the other party may not be thrilled with your efforts to build their case. In fact, they might try to destroy the evidence to prevent you from revealing the truth.

This is called theft of evidence. If this happens, Nevada law allows you to point it out to the jury. They can assume that the evidence would be in their favor if the other party had produced it.

Winning the evidence game

It is vital to remember that cases are won and lost based on the evidence. Putting the time and effort to tediously construct each piece of evidence can mean the difference between a great recovery and no recovery at all.

An experienced Las Vegas personal injury attorney can help you gather evidence and use it to arrive at the best possible resolution of your case. They can help you determine the actions to take to protect all available evidence and can offer expert advice on how each piece of evidence can increase your chances of obtaining the compensation you need to fully recover.