When litigating a personal injury auto case, it is essential for the lawyer to utilize a cost-effective and efficient trial strategy. This should involve the utilization of depositions to efficiently resolve the claim through the use of arbitration or mediation.
In this post, I’ll share a few things you should know to prepare for a personal injury deposition.
Preparing for an Auto Injury Deposition
A client’s deposition is the most important event in his or her personal injury case. This is the opportunity for the client to discuss a collision’s impact on daily life and normal activities.
It is imperative that every client focus on the following issues during a deposition.
1. Focus on what has caused you pain and suffering. This should include any anxiety or stress that you have been under since the collision, the nature and extent of your injuries, your limitations and restrictions, loss of activities that you enjoyed doing, and if you have any permanent injuries (you may be entitled to future medical care and treatment).
2. Provide a thorough history of all of the injuries that you sustained in the motor vehicle collision. Be sure to outline, in detail, all of your limitations, restrictions, and all activities that you are unable to do.
3. Outline all of the unsafe things the negligent driver did that caused your collision. Try to explain the event as vividly as possible.
What Happens Next?
Once a client has a good deposition, we try to mediate or arbitrate all of our personal injury cases. A mediation is an alternative method that lawyers use to resolve their personal injury cases. A private mediator is, in some instances, the judge or magistrate acting as a facilitator of negotiations between the parties.
Mediation usually results in a final dismissal of the action. Mediation is quickly becoming the preferred method of dispute resolution. Mediation gives clients the opportunity to thoroughly discuss their cases and describe what they have been going through since the collision. It provides them with a method of controlling the outcome of their cases, avoids the risk of litigation, and bypasses worry about how a jury will evaluate their cases. Often, the last settlement offer at a mediation offers a better settlement value for a claim (as compared to a jury).
Talk to Our Firm
If you’re injured and need to speak with an attorney in the Columbus, Ohio area, our firm can assist you. Contact us to schedule a time to chat.
