How Expert Witnesses Can Make or Break Your Personal Injury Case?

When you find yourself in a personal injury situation, such as a car crash, slip and fall or action based on malpractice, the stakes are usually high. You are demanding an award of medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering and the likes. The role of the expert witnesses is actually one of the important factors which can greatly impact whether or not your case is won.

But what is an expert witness any way, and why do they matter so much?

Who is an Expert Witness?

An expert witness is a professional who is very knowledgeable, trained or experienced on a certain field which is involved in your case. An expert witness differs with the ordinary witness, as an expert does not give evidence regarding what he sensed or saw, but rather gives opinion and analysis using facts and statistics.

Examples include:

• Medical professionals who can describe how injured you are and whether this happened due to the accident.
• Accident reconstruction experts that can ascertain the manner through which a crash happened.
• Vocational experts that evaluate the impact of your injuries on your employment capacity.
• Economists that do mathematical estimations of long-term financial losses.

The use of Expert Witnesses in Your Case

1. Explaining Common Problems

In most personal injury actions, there are medical or technical facts that no ordinary person can comprehend--or most people in a jury. Expert witnesses even interpret these complexities to simple and understandable information. They may testify or not and make the difference between confusion and clarity to the judge or jury.

2. Establishing Liability

Testimony by the expert might be important in establishing the guilt of the other party. An example would be when a structural engineer would testify that a building had a faulty handrail which led to a fall. They add depth to your case that there was negligence.

3. Demonstrating Damages

As much as an issue of liability may be determined, it is essential that you demonstrate how you were damaged. An economist can tell how much will be lost in future due to your injuries and a medical expert can explain how injuries will impact on you in the long-term.
This will assist in making sure you are well paid not only when the current costs are incurred, but also when the future costs come in.

4. Boosting Credibility

The testifying experts usually involve credibility and it may impress a jury. The opinions of a respected doctor or engineer with a sound reasoning can prove to be more influential as compared to the lay witness test.

The Damage that Expert Witnesses Can Do.

As much as a good expert witness will strengthen your arguments, a poor or unqualified one will mess your reputation. Here’s how:

• Ineligibility: In case your expert does not have the adequate credentials or experience then the other side may attack on his/her credibility.
• Partial testimony: The observer who does not seem to provide objective analysis of a given case but rather appears to support one party may lose the trust of the jury.
• Contradictions: In case your professional is prejudiced against by another more engrossing expert on the opposite hand, it can generate a strong setback towards your claim.

In others, he/she can hire their own experts to challenge yours and it becomes a game of reliability and resolvability.

Selecting an Adequate Expert Witness

It is important to seek an expert. A Personal Injury Lawyer Perth who has experience will be able to know how:

• Find the suitable expert on your side.
• Check their qualification and experience.
• Make them ready to testify in depositions and at trials.
• We need not only an expert but the right expert who is competent enough in communication and facing cross-examination.

Final Thoughts

The cases involving personal injuries usually depend on fine details upon which lay people cannot comprehend. Testimony by expert witnesses is essentially translation and validation of your claims. They could either assist you win your case or could be one of the factors that lead to the fall of your case depending on the qualifications, objectivity and how they present themselves.