Many personal injury victims who suffer injury in a car accident, slip and fall, construction accident or other negligent or intentional acts of third parties understand that the effectiveness of their personal injury legal team can have a substantial impact on their potential recovery.  However, it is common for those who are injured by the misconduct of others to be unaware of one of the most important members of a personal injury legal team – the injury victim.  There are a wide variety of measures that you can take that may either strengthen or damage your own Mississippi personal injury claim.  At Barrett Law, we have helped thousands of injury victims throughout Mississippi; we have provided some insight into how to be an effective member of your own personal injury legal team:

Follow Up on All Medical Treatment: Many Mississippi car accident or other personal injury victims do not seek prompt medical attention or minimize their symptoms.  An important part of obtaining proper medical treatment and compensation for your injuries is obtaining an accurate diagnosis and prognosis.  When you fail to disclose symptoms to your physician or delay obtaining medical attention, you compromise the ability of the doctor to accurately determine the severity of your injuries.  It is also essential to attend all medical appointments and fully follow up on the full course of treatment and physical therapy.

Do Not Share Your Hardships with the World: The overwhelming popularity of social networks means that many people are sharing the intimate details of their life with friends and family on social networks.  If you are seriously injured, it is the type of life experience many people are tempted to discuss on their social network page.  This is never a good idea because insurance carriers now regularly monitor social networks for evidence in personal injury cases.  Some courts are even granting insurance company discovery requests for access to the password protected areas of a plaintiff’s Facebook and other social network pages.  An insurance company may look for pictures of you engaged in activity that is inconsistent with your injuries or admissions that may suggest you were partially at-fault.  Generally, the best practice is not to discuss the details of your accident and resulting injuries with anyone except your Mississippi personal injury attorney.

Do Not “Sanitize” Your Story: There is a natural tendency to want to omit damaging facts when discussing your personal injury claim with your attorney.  This is a recipe for disaster because then your attorney may be unprepared for this damaging piece of information if it later comes out.  An experienced Mississippi personal injury attorney can effectively deal with many types of damaging facts as long as the attorney is made aware of them.  If you fail to provide all relevant facts to your Mississippi personal attorney, the attorney may even build a litigation strategy that is inconsistent with the facts.

Provide All Documents Promptly: There are many documents that your Mississippi personal injury attorney may need to effectively pursue your claim, including documents like medical records and pay stubs.  These documents are essential to properly evaluate issues, such as fault, causation and damages.  The Mississippi personal injury law firm that represents you will also be required to provide “discovery” to the insurance company attorneys for the other driver.  There are timing requirements to comply with formal request for documents and failure to comply in a timely fashion care result in monetary sanctions or the preclusion of certain evidence at trial.

Follow the Advice of Your Attorney: If your Mississippi personal injury attorney advises you to do certain things, it is generally advisable to adhere to your attorney’s advice.  If you do not understand information or the rationale for why your attorney tells you to do something, you should ask.  Your attorney is a legal expert so disregarding his advice is akin to ignoring the instructions of your doctor.

If you follow these guidelines, you will be an effective member of your Mississippi personal injury team.  While a skilled personal injury lawyer in Mississippi can compensate for many errors may be injury victims, an injury victim that is proactive about being an effective member of their litigation team can substantially improve the value of their case.  The experienced Mississippi motor vehicle accident attorneys at Barrett Law have been providing effective representation to Mississippi auto accident victims for over 75 years.  We provide diligent legal representation and impassioned advocacy so we invite you to call us today at 662-834-2376 to learn how we can help.