Teamwork. That’s a word not often associated with personal injury lawsuits in Ontario. But teamwork is an essential part of a successful claim for damages if you’ve been hurt.
Say that you’ve been involved in a motor vehicle accident and suffered a personal injury. Or perhaps it was the result of a slip and fall on a sidewalk or in a parking lot. It doesn’t matter how it happened, but if your injury came about because of somebody’s negligence, you may have a claim for personal injury damages.
Most people assume that once they see a personal injury lawyer, their lawsuit simply takes care of itself. But working with a personal injury lawyer requires a degree of teamwork – the lawyer knows how to present your claim, but you still need to take steps to assist your lawyer.
A personal injury lawyer in Ontario will have the skills and experience to guide your claim through the legal system, but your lawyer relies on evidence to make that claim successful. Much of the evidence in a lawsuit comes from you, the claimant. Information about your injuries, your work, your family – you are the first and most important source of evidence. Working as a team means that when your lawyer requests information and documents, you will be involved in that process. Being involved means being able to help your lawyer put together a successful claim.
So if you’ve been injured, it’s important to remember that from day one, documents and information that normally might not be important, may all of a sudden become crucial to the success of your claim. Receipts for housekeeping expenses, income statements or pay stubs, prescription medication receipts, the names of people involved in your care - even parking lot receipts from when family visits you at the hospital – all of these things will help your personal injury lawyer advance your claim and maximize your potential recovery of damages.
If you’ve been involved in an accident, think ahead to the teamwork that will be involved when you retain a lawyer. You will feel more involved in your own lawsuit and you will be assisting your lawyer to do the best possible job on your behalf.
