Professionals, including healthcare providers, economists, vocational rehabilitation experts, and others, play a direct role in your potential physical and financial recoveries in a personal injury case. When it comes to finding health care providers, specialists, and experts, a personal injury attorney can be an invaluable resource. Many personal injury attorneys have ongoing relationships with these experts and can help you retain the best experts to testify in your particular case.
If you have sustained injuries in a Clearwater accident that was not your fault, you may be eligible to obtain monetary compensation in your case. To prove damages in your case, it is sometimes necessary to retain experts who can testify on your behalf.
The Clearwater attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA understand that expert testimony is an integral part of any personal injury case. They may be able to review your injuries and damages and retain the necessary expert or experts who can help to maximize the settlement or verdict value of your personal injury case.
Who Are Expert Witnesses and How Can They Help?
Expert witnesses are above all professionals. These witnesses must possess some form of specialized knowledge, training, education, or experience about the subject matter of the personal injury case at hand. If the case goes to trial, the Plaintiff's attorney will likely call the expert to express an opinion about the injuries sustained by the accident victim in the case. Oftentimes, these opinions go to the nature and extent of the injuries, as well as to permanency.
In car, truck, pedestrian, and motorcycle accident cases, expert witnesses may include:
- Health care providers
- Medical specialists
- Accident reconstructionists
- Economists
- Vocational rehabilitation experts
Healthcare Providers
Healthcare providers are obviously an essential part of your physical recovery following an accident. In addition to doctors, healthcare providers also include nurses, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and physical therapists. Healthcare providers administer the necessary treatment that you need to get back on your feet following a serious injury. They can help you on the road to reaching a level of maximum medical improvement.
At a deposition or trial, treating health care providers and medical experts can state their opinions about the cause, nature, and extent of an accident victim's medical physical conditions and injuries following an accident. They may also be able to establish a causal connection between the accident and the injury or injuries sustained. They can also testify about permanent injuries and damages, including the limitations from which the accident victim must suffer – as well as the need for future surgeries or other future medical procedures.
Moreover, if the insurance company disputes that a particular injury is permanent in nature, a medical expert may be able to testify that the accident victim's symptoms are, in fact, consistent with a permanent and debilitating injury. When a medical expert testifies at a deposition or trial, he or she expresses all opinions to a reasonable degree of medical certainty.
Economists
In cases where an injured accident victim misses time from work as a direct result of the accident and subsequent injuries and damages, the accident victim may be able to recover lost wage compensation. Not everyone works five days per week and 40 hours per day. In fact, some people have very irregular work schedules. In those cases, an economist may be helpful in arriving at a formula to calculate the accident victim's lost wages. Furthermore, an economist may be able to arrive at a figure for future lost wages.
Vocational Rehabilitation Experts
If the accident victim sustained significant and permanent injuries, a vocational rehabilitation expert may be able to testify about the plaintiff's loss of earning capacity. The expert may also be able to testify about the accident victim's inability to hold the same job in the future, as a direct result of the injuries sustained in the accident—or about the accident victim's inability to hold any job in the future.
Accident Reconstructionists
Accidents are not always clear-cut, and some accidents occur outside the presence of any witnesses. Therefore, someone is needed to supply the details about how the accident happened and who was responsible for causing it.
A certified accident reconstructionist may be able to help uncover exactly how the accident occurred. Some police officers may be able to testify as accident reconstructionists if they came to the accident scene and made observations.
Police officers and certified accident reconstructionists have specialized knowledge, training, skills, and experience from which they can draw upon. An accident reconstructionist may also be able to testify about approximate vehicle speeds at the time of an accident, the directions in which the vehicles were traveling, vehicular momentum, stopping distances, and vehicle locations at the time of the accident and shortly thereafter.
Call a Clearwater, Florida Personal Injury Lawyer Today for a Free Initial Consultation and Case Evaluation
Fault (i.e. liability) and damages—particularly, permanency damages—can be difficult to prove in personal injury cases. Professionals can go a long way in helping injured accident victims obtain the care and treatment they need to get better and in maximizing the value of their personal injury cases.The Clearwater personal injury lawyers at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA can examine the facts and circumstances of your case and determine what, if any, experts are necessary to prove your injuries and damages. Our attorneys may then be able to retain the necessary experts on your behalf to testify at a deposition or personal injury trial.
To schedule a free consultation and case evaluation with a Clearwater, Florida personal injury lawyer, please call us or contact us online.
Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA 800 North Belcher Road Clearwater, Florida 33765 727-451-6900 Clearwater Personal Injury Attorney