​The Role of Expert Witnesses in Complex Personal Injury Litigation

Expert Witnesses Play An Important Role in Helping To Successfully Resolve Complex Personal Injury Cases

Expert witnesses often play a crucial role in complex personal injury cases. They can help establish many different aspects within a personal injury case. This can include the extent of a person’s injuries and whether or not one or more parties is actually liable for an accident. These experts span many different fields, including medicine, engineering, forensic science, and finance. This guide will help you better understand all of the roles that they could play in order to successfully resolve complex personal injury cases.

Role #1: Establishing Causation

Establishing causation can be one of the most difficult aspects of any personal injury claim. This is particularly true in complex cases. Insurance companies may try to claim that the injury in question was the result of a pre-existing condition. Expert witnesses can rebuff these claims and tactics in several ways.

• Medical experts can help establish that an injury was not present prior to an accident.
• Accident reconstructionists can use forensic evidence to help demonstrate how an accident took place.
• Biomechanical experts can help demonstrate how forces from a specific accident resulted in an injury.

Expert witnesses play a critical role in negating many of the claims of insurance providers. Through all of the tactics mentioned above, they can help link your particular injuries to the negligent actions of the defendant.

Role #2: Assessing Future Damages After an Accident

Accidents can have major implications for every part of a person’s life. Most victims will suffer various forms of economic and non-economic damages. Expert witnesses can help demonstrate damages in many different ways.

• Expert witnesses can clearly outline all of the different surgeries and long-term care options that victims will need as a result of their injuries.
• Economists can help calculate the financial implications that an accident will have on a person. For example, many accident victims will experience a loss in earning capacity, particularly if their job requires physical labor.
• Lifecare planners can evaluate the costs for all of the rehabilitation that a person may need in order to recover.

Accidents can have financial implications for a person’s life 10, 20, or even 30 years in the future. An accurate assessment of future damages must take into consideration these long-term costs and how inflation may increase these costs.

Role #3: Accident Reconstruction

Ideally, an accident will be covered by surveillance footage from multiple angles. But in far too many situations, this does not take place. Expert witnesses can use accident reconstruction in order to clearly demonstrate what happened.

• Engineers can give a thorough evaluation of how the evidence left behind after an accident demonstrated what happened. For example, a lack of skidmarks in the roadway could demonstrate that a driver didn’t even attempt to brake before hitting the pedestrian with their vehicle.
• Visual elements like 3D simulations can play an important role during negotiations and even in the midst of a trial. They can allow all parties to understand what happened.

Accidents are typically very complex events. The factors that contribute to any accident could take place days, hours, weeks, or even months beforehand. Expert witnesses can help establish what happened through their informed opinions.

Role #4: Demonstrating Industry Standards

Many accidents are the result of a major lapse in industry standards. But the average person simply won’t be aware of what these standards are. Expert witnesses can demonstrate that an accident was the result of the defendant failing to follow established norms and protocols.

• Within the field of medicine, doctors can help show that a physician failed to follow necessary safety protocols. This could include failing to double-check a patient’s identity.
• The construction industry has many safety standards set by OSHA. An expert witness can demonstrate how a construction company’s failure to follow OSHA standards resulted in a worker being injured.
• Consumer products must abide by certain safety standards. For example, dresser drawers must abide by the STURDY Act to prevent them from tipping over. An expert witness can show how one or more consumer products failed to adhere to federal regulations.

Expert testimony can play an essential role in demonstrating safety violations in many different fields. These experts can be particularly compelling to jury members who are simply unaware of all of the relevant safety standards that could’ve contributed to an accident.

Role #5: Strengthening Negotiations and Trial Strategy

Expert witnesses can play a critical role in helping cases settle before going to trial. These witnesses can help strengthen negotiations in several ways.

• Expert witnesses add major credibility to any claim. Insurance companies do not want to go up against credible experts in the field that will demonstrate to a jury that their client was negligent. This can make insurance providers more likely to settle.
• Expert reports can be enormously persuasive during negotiations and trial. They can substantially add to the strength of the claims that an attorney is already making.
• Expert witnesses are also able to simplify complex topics. Most people do not have degrees in engineering, medicine, or biomechanics. A good expert witness can explain relevant topics in simple terms that most people will be able to understand.

No matter what stage a case is at, expert witnesses can play a crucial role. Your attorney will hire them in order to strengthen your claim and maximize case value.

Getting Legal Help After an Accident

If you have a complex personal injury claim, hiring an experienced attorney who knows how to make use of expert witnesses can make all the difference in the world. These experts can help in virtually all aspects of a case. When considering which law firm to hire, it is important to ask the attorneys that you’re speaking with if they consult with expert witnesses.

Have you or someone that you care about been injured in a complex personal injury claim? Our team of personal injury attorneys at GLK Law is here to help you. We have successfully recovered over $1 billion for our deserving clients. One of the key reasons that we have been able to win so much on behalf of our clients is due to our strategic use of expert witnesses. We work with some of the best experts in medicine, engineering, finance, and biomechanics in order to strengthen injury claims. Whether you just have legal questions or are wondering how our law firm might be able to help, we are here for you. You can reach out to us anytime at (516) 908-9792.