After a car accident, your main focus should be on getting well and getting your life back in order. Most people don't consider the possibility of litigation in the future. While that is natural and typical, you may be hurting your chances to receive a favorable outcome in your personal injury litigation.
Even if you don't want to sue immediately after an accident, that may change after you see how the other side lawyers up.
While the following suggestions can apply in other personal injury scenarios, these suggestions come from my experience with car accident Plaintiffs and typical challenges faced in car accident litigation. If you or someone you know is injured in a car accident, these are four important things to keep track of:
Keep track of names and contact information of people who witnessed the accident.
Keep photographs of the damaged cars, the scene, and your injuries in the days and weeks after the accident.
Keep all medical bills and a list of medical providers.
Keep track of other costs such as home medical supplies and physical therapy.
Insurance companies are notorious for offering injured people who don't have lawyers extremely low offers; they really only care about keeping their costs as low as possible.
Even if you have a lawyer, if you cannot provide documentation of your medical bills, photographs of your injuries and cars, and costs of other services like physical therapy, the insurance company is likely going to offer you less compensation, if any.
A car accident is a very tough time for people. However, with proper documentation and diligence, the process of receiving just compensation for your injuries will be much easier.