Evidence to Help Improve your Injury Settlement

It's important to actively collect evidence that will help your chances of obtaining a fair injury settlement. Evidence comes in many forms and is always helpful, even if it's circumstantial. The bottom line is, the more evidence you have to back up your claim, the quicker and more likely you'll be offered a good injury settlement.

Some of the best evidence can be photographs. Taking accident photos is vitally important, but you should also take pictures of other relevant things. Any bruising, scarring or other visible injuries should be photographed. Even if you have medical records explaining your injuries (which you should), these photos are still important. The adjuster knows that injury photos will play a dramatic role in court if the insurance company doesn't reach a settlement with you.

Photographing physical evidence is one of the best ways to preserve evidence in your settlement case. It's also a good idea to KEEP whatever physical evidence you can. In a bicycle accident where the bike is beyond repair, keep it. Also keep the clothing you were wearing, especially if it was torn or damaged from the accident.

Witnesses are another valuable form of evidence - when they're on your side. Collect as many statements as you can to back up your side of the story. The idea of all evidence is to show that your case is stronger than just your word alone. The more people saying the same thing you've said, the better your chances are of proving your story is accurate.

Get your statements in writing. You'll eventually show them to the insurance adjuster. This can help bring negotiations from the stage of the adjuster trying to prove you wrong, to trying to offer you a good injury settlement.

Circumstantial evidence can also be important. This can be hard to come by in a lot of situations, but will strengthen your case. Circumstantial evidence refers to anything that allows you to infer something, but not prove it. For instance, a bad driving record doesn't prove someone was negligent in the accident, but it'll suggest that possibility. Showing that the other driver was using a cell phone at the time of the accident is another good piece of circumstantial evidence. Whenever possible, you should return to the scene of the accident. You might notice things you hadn't seen before that can help you reach a settlement. Maybe you'll spot a leak that caused the slippery floor, or you'll find an object that was blocking your view of a stop sign. Whatever evidence you find, be sure that you document it - and always let the adjuster know that you have it.