As someone hurt in an accident, you have a strong interest in collecting as much evidence as possible. Without it, you could lose the chance to collect any compensation or receive a lower settlement than what could have been possible. Personal injury attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada, insurance companies, and juries use evidence to decide who was responsible for an accident. The law then obligates the at-fault party to pay the injured person’s financial damages.

Evidence Documents What Happened and Your Expenses
To file insurance claims or personal injury lawsuits, injury attorneys document the cause of the accident and the expenses that resulted for the victim. The cause of the accident may be captured through:

• Pictures or surveillance video of the accident scene
• Police reports
• Victim testimony
• Witness testimony
• Examination of physical evidence or images of physical evidence by experts

Personal injury lawyers in Las Vegas cite evidence concerning the accident to illustrate fault. They discuss these details with an insurance adjuster during negotiations until they hopefully reach an agreement about who bears all or a majority of fault.

Once fault, also known as liability, is established, negotiations switch to determining the amount of compensation. Calculation of this figure relies primarily on documented expenses, like your medical bills and lost income. These are called economic damages because they result from billed services. Some injury cases will have damages that do not come with receipts. These are called non-economic damages, and pain and suffering is a typical example. Even without receipts, non-economic damages depend on evidence, such as your statements about pain and medical opinions about the difficulty of your experience.

The Need to Act Quickly
To present a strong insurance claim or legal case, you need evidence that is tied to the time and place of the accident.

The evidence for your accident may fade quickly, particularly at the accident scene. Municipal workers will pick up debris from a car crash, and a store manager may remove an obstacle that caused a trip and fall.

For this reason, evidence collection after an accident is an urgent matter, and you need to get it while it still exists. If you or a companion are at all able in the moments following your accident, you should take pictures and identify witnesses.

You can write or record an account of the accident from your perspective. Do this as soon as possible so that the event is fresh in your mind. Similarly, you could benefit from getting witnesses’ statements right away before they forget details.

Quickly gathering facts about the cause of the accident can prevent the spoilation of evidence. This phrase describes when someone destroys evidence so that it is not available for a legal case. An example would be purposefully deleting surveillance video that contains your accident.

Types of Evidence

The need for immediate medical attention, such as being removed by ambulance, often prevents an accident victim from immediately getting evidence from the accident scene. In that situation, you could return to the accident scene once you are able or send a friend or relative to take pictures and inquire about witnesses. Injury attorneys often have investigators they can send to do this as well.

Whether you or someone else returns to the accident scene, you should try to go there on the same day of the week and time as the accident. In this way, the pictures will reflect the conditions when you got hurt, such as poor lighting on stairs or obstruction of a road sign.

Medical Records
Medical records consist of the physician’s notes, treatment plans, diagnostic test results, and bills for services related to your accident.

Medical documentation is absolutely vital, and you should get a medical exam immediately after the accident. This establishes a specific physician visit that addresses your complaints about injuries following the accident.

Ask for copies of your records after each appointment and keep a file of all bills and explanations of benefits you receive.

Witness Statements
Information given by witnesses could provide insights valuable to your case. Their statements might confirm your account of events or add extra information you were not aware of.
When asking people for a statement, be sure to get their names and contact information. Personal injury lawyers in Las Vegas often follow up with witnesses.

Some witnesses may not be forthcoming. Employees or managers usually are under orders not to speak about accidents, but injury attorneys may ask them to sit for a deposition.

Photographs
Almost everybody has a smartphone, and the cameras on these devices take acceptable photographs. Visual evidence has the potential to be highly compelling, and it could help to establish fault or illustrate the severity of injuries.

Take as many pictures as you can of:

• Accident scene
• Accident damage to the vehicle or other property
• Injuries

Tips for taking pictures of accident cases:

• Take numerous images from different angles
• Get close-ups of injuries and property damage
• Take images that show a wide view of the accident scene
• Make sure that your camera is creating a digital date stamp for each picture

Information About the Responsible Party
In most but not all accidents, the injured person has a pretty good idea of who is likely at fault. After a car accident, drivers know that they have to share their contact and insurance information. You can take pictures of the driver’s license, insurance card, and license plate.
However, if you get hurt at a public place, like a park or a store, you will need to find out who is in charge of the premises. Collect information about the organization or company so that a Las Vegas injury lawyer can contact the headquarters and get information about its insurer.

Physical Evidence
Accidents usually have physical evidence, such as a damaged vehicle or bloody clothing. Take pictures of all physical evidence. If any of it is in your possession, like a defective product that caught fire, keep it.

Police or Other Type of Accident Report
Police respond to many car accidents and produce reports about their observations and traffic citations, if any. You will want to obtain a copy of this or have a Las Vegas injury lawyer request it.

If you are hurt at a store, casino, concert, or other business, speak with the manager and file an accident report. Get a copy of it for your records.

Your Journal About Injuries
As the term personal injury implies, an accident is very personal for the victim. Your experience dealing with injuries, attending appointments, and struggling financially matters. Personal injury attorneys in Las Vegas, Nevada, recommend writing a journal to document your medical treatments and recovery.

Meet With a Las Vegas Injury Lawyer

Insurance companies and their lawyers will look for ways to discount evidence if an accident case goes to trial. They will undoubtedly want to reduce your compensation if you lack evidence.

Gathering as much evidence as possible will protect you from efforts to deny your claim. Visiting Moss Berg Injury Lawyers promotes your interests as well. Our injury attorneys are dedicated to helping people recover compensation after accidents. Contact us today.