When a severe automobile, construction, or any other kind of catastrophic accident occurs, it is vital that you have experienced counsel on your side that can seize evidence related to your case. Unfortunately, I have seen people here in Mississippi either hire an attorney too late or retain inexperienced counsel with tragic results—significant evidence is destroyed, degraded, or lost. If you have been injured in a serious accident, the defendant’s counsel wants the evidence related to your accident to be lost or destroyed, so don’t give them an advantage. I have written the following blog post to describe why preserving evidence is so vital to recovering your fair share of compensation after you have been injured.
If you have been injured in a severe automobile, construction, or any other type of catastrophic accident, one thing is critical to know—you will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you or a loved one has been injured. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.
Why Seizing and Documenting Evidence is So Important
When a catastrophic injury results from an automobile accident, a construction accident, a machinery malfunction or any other accident, it is vital that the cause of the injuries in question be documented as soon as possible after the accident occurs. For example, imagine a scaffolding collapses, injuring five employees that had been standing on it. A lawsuit on behalf of those workers will likely either allege that the scaffolding itself was defective or that the contractor that owned the scaffolding assembled it negligently. But to prove either of those arguments, the plaintiffs’ attorney will have to establish negligence, which means that the defendant had a duty to the plaintiff and failed to take reasonable steps to avoid injuring him or her.
The most important advice I can give you is that when a severe accident occurs, call experienced personal injury counsel immediately. If you delay, there is no way that the attorney can spring into action on your behalf and preserve evidence. Delay is deadly to your case, and when an accident like this occurs, I immediately request that the property owner seal off the accident site and prevent any movement of the alleged cause of the injury—in this case, the scaffolding. Then my team and I arrive on the scene and take detailed pictures of the scaffolding and site. If possible, I would even take a sample of the scaffolding to determine whether undue decay or degradation had caused the scaffolding’s structure to become compromised. Unfortunately, once the scaffolding is moved or removed, it is challenging to establish who and what caused the accident in question. For example, it is common for contractors to use too few cross supports on scaffolding; the only way to establish how many supports were in use is to be there, on-site, and count them.
Similarly, the scaffolding may have been assembled correctly, only to collapse because the manufacturer negligently calculated weight limits. There will be no way to determine negligence definitively without detailed documentation of the accident scene. The scaffolding company and building contractor will each blame each other, making pursuing either party more challenging.
What Should You Do If You Have Been Injured?
If you have been injured because of another party’s negligence or recklessness, you should be compensated for medical costs, counseling, loss of employment, and other expenses. Let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with the defendant’s attorneys. These are essential tasks that a personal injury attorney can handle for you and that you cannot handle alone.
Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury. Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.
