Take any questions your personal injury lawyer asks seriously. Provide the most complete and accurate information that you can. Doing so will be good for your case in the long run.
Sustaining an injury because of the actions of another party can turn a life upside down. At least for a time, carrying on, as usual, is not possible. Along with recuperating from the injuries, there’s also the matter of seeking damages from the party who caused them. You’ll find that New York injury lawyers will want to know all there is to know about the event in order to prepare the lawsuit. Here are a few of the questions your legal counsel is likely to ask.
Will You Tell Me Everything That You Know?
There’s more to this question than encouraging you to recount the events as you remember them. The goal is to prompt you to recall little details that may not seem all that important in the moment. For this reason, expect your lawyer to listen to what you have to say, then begin to ask questions in order to clarify specific points.
Details are what the lawyer seeks. While those questions may remind you of things that you left out initially, they could turn out to be crucial to the case. Don’t be surprised if the lawyer wants to go over what took place more than one time.
Who Else Saw What Happened?
Gathering more evidence is part of what the lawyer will want to do. If there was anyone else around who witnessed all or part of what happened, your legal counsel would want to talk with those individuals. The goal is to get their perspective about what they did see.
In some cases, what those witnesses say will confirm what you’ve already shared. At other times, their accounts may add more details that help to explain parts that seem hazy to you. Combined, these interviews are likely to provide more information that the lawyer can put to good use.
Did You Seek Medical Attention?
The goal here is to confirm that there’s a medical professional somewhere who can provide information about the nature and extent of the injuries. Timing does matter in that the case is immediately stronger if you sought medical attention immediately after the event. From the emergency medical technician who treated you on the spot to the team in the emergency room to the attending physician, all of them will be able to provide information that’s relevant to the case.
Even if you didn’t seek medical care until the day after, it’s not unusual for New York injury lawyers to contact anyone who provided treatment. Along with affirming the nature of your injuries, they can also provide some idea of what kind of ongoing care you may need.
Have You Spoken with Anyone Connected with the Event?
It’s important for your lawyer to know who you’ve spoken with about the event, where those conversations took place, and what was said. This is especially true if anything was said to or in front of the responsible party. You can bet that any remark that comes from you will be used by the legal team representing the legal party.
Your lawyer is also likely to recommend that you don’t discuss any specifics about the accident or your health with anyone else. All future inquiries, especially those by the responsible party, should be directed to your legal counsel.
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