This post helps Utah-based victims of a personal injury case get their information and documents in order beforehand, and know what to expect during a formal face-to-face meeting with their car accident attorney in Salt Lake City. This post will help the victim save a whole lot of time and energy, thereby allowing him to focus more on his medical treatment.
The first formal meeting (after hiring the attorney) is extremely important. By the end of the meeting, the lawyer should be able to collect the available facts and know the ones that need to be investigated or gathered from external sources. Typically, an experienced accident lawyer in Salt Lake City is ready with a checklist that seeks to collect the following information:
1. Details of the Victim
Name, age, marital status, children/dependents, home address, business address, and phone number
2. Details of the At-Fault Party
Who all parties were at fault? Was the victim partly to blame for the accident? Who was driving the car? Who owned the car? Details of all defendants (name, age, home and business addresses, phone number)
3. Accident-Related Details (Basic)
Date, time, and location (city, county, street, intersection, proximity to landmark) of the accident
4. Details of Vehicles
The direction in which the victim’s and the at-fault party’s vehicles were traveling, and the street/lane on which they were traveling. The lawyer may request you to draw a rough sketch, and it will be helpful if you have one ready.
5. Actions Taken Before and After the Collision
Did any driver attempt to slow down or reduce speed? Did any driver apply the brakes? Did any driver attempt to turn to avoid the collision? Were there any skid marks? If so, what was their length? Did any party honk, and if yes, how long before the impact? What action did the victim take after sighting the at-fault party’s car?
6. Accident Scene Details
Did the accident happen when it was dark, or in daylight? Whether any objects like hedges blocked any drivers’ vision? Was any damage done to public property? What was the damage suffered by each car? What were the weather conditions and their impact on visibility? Did other factors like speed bumps, loose gravel, holes, street/lane width, and traffic signal status contribute to the accident?
Keep a sketch ready that shows the positions of the cars before the accident, at the time of the collision, and after the accident.
7. Events After the Accident
Did anyone call the police? If yes, who? Was the accident scene tampered with before any investigation? Did any party receive a ticket? Does the victim have a copy of the police report?
What conversations happened after the accident, and with whom? Did any witness overhear these conversations? Did the victim obtain any witness’s name and phone number? What are the names of the patrol officers who first arrived at the scene, and the name of the cop who investigated the accident?
8. Insurance Details
Insurance information of the victim and at-fault party is required along with answers to: Whether the accident has been reported to the victim’s insurance company? Was the victim contacted by the at-fault party or his insurance company? Has the victim signed any statement?
9. Details of Property Damage and Injuries
Who repaired the victim’s car? What was the bill/estimate?
Details are required of each of the victim’s injuries and to which part of the body they were inflicted, symptoms that appeared after the accident (even if the symptoms are no longer present), doctors visited and their actions/advice, number of visits, doctor’s opinion about the injuries, his bills (itemized), and receipts.
10. Details of Prior Illnesses
What is the victim’s medical history? Was any part of his body that had a medical issue injured in the accident? When did the existing injuries/illnesses occur and how were they treated? How many times was the victim hospitalized in the past?
11. Details of Employment
Details of lost wages, loss of earnings capacity – current and future; mode of earning wages before the accident (whether hourly, on contract, or regular salary); job description and what part of it isn’t doable after the accident; prior employment history (to estimate victim’s earnings loss in the future).
Finally, car accident lawyers in Salt Lake City obtain information about any prior claims filed by the victim.
If you keep the documents and answers to the questions mentioned in the checklist above ready, it will help you and your lawyer save on time and resources.
Want to know more? How about taking us up on our offer of a free meeting?
FREE INITIAL DISCUSSION
We urge you to take advantage of our free initial meeting. We will help you calculate an approximate claim, discuss your case’s strengths and weaknesses, establish our credentials, and demonstrate how we have helped hundreds of victims win millions of dollars in compensation claims.
Our firm is staffed with skilled and experienced accident lawyers in Salt Lake City and we work on a contingency fee basis – that is, you don’t pay if you don’t win.
We urge you to engage with us in a no-pressure, no-obligation, free initial discussion and clarify any doubts you may have about your case.
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by agreeing to a free meeting that will make you a more informed litigant.
