Doing Your Part to Help a Personal Injury Attorney Build Your Case

If you have been hurt as a result of another person's negligence or carelessness you may be able to file a claim and hire a personal injury attorney. In doing this there are a number of steps that must be taken legally to file a proper claim and from there recover what has been lost.

What then do you need to do as a personal injury victim? You need to protect your rights as a victim and to protect your claim. You have already suffered enough and do not want to suffer anymore.

You need to have your wits about you following the incident as you need to collect all of the relevant information and evidence about what has taken place. You need to gather together all of the contact information you can for any witnesses that were there when it happened. You need names, telephone numbers, home addresses and e-mail addresses. You will also want to collect as much information as possible from witnesses at the scene.

Take photos of the scene of the accident. These are not photos that are taken to show the view or to depict the beauty of the scenery but they need to be close-up photos. For instance, if you were hurt in a motor vehicle accident, then the photographs that are taken need to show things such as skid marks, street signs, landmarks, the damage done to the car you were travelling in, etc. These are items that the personal injury attorney will need to have in his possession moving forward with regard to your case.

Make sure that you keep all of your correspondence and your documents in one place as you do not want to lose anything. This would include all your medical documentation including your bills, records, receipts and notes from physicians. This would also include reports from the police, letters and correspondence from your insurance provider and any e-mail correspondence that you have from witnesses. It is essential that you share pertinent information only with your personal injury attorney and your insurance company. Know what information should be kept private about the accident that you were in.

Following the accident you will be contacted by an investigator or an individual who is representing the insurance company of the individual who was at fault for the accident. Do not tell this person anything at all, even if he tells you that it is his job to record the facts and to collect information about the incident. You do not have to tell anyone from the at-fault insurance company anything, be it verbally or in written form. If you are contacted by such a person then inform him that he must speak with your lawyer if he requires any information for his files.

While you do not have to talk with the other person's insurance company if you have suffered a personal injury as a result of an accident, you do need to talk with yours. Be as cooperative as possible with your own insurance provider. Tell them what happened in regards to the accident and do not leave any relevant facts out. This will go a long way in validating the coverage that you have with them.

It is important that you do not let your insurer coerce you into signing any type of release or waiver without first speaking with your personal injury attorney about what the paper is all about. You do not want to be taken advantage of or manipulated which is why you should never put your signature down on any document without first talking it over with your lawyer and having him review it closely. As a personal injury claimant you can never be too careful. Your personal injury attorney is there to see that you are protected in every way and that you do not suffer anymore damages than you already have.