It is always a good idea to speak with our Minnesota personal injury attorneys after suffering an injury in an accident. If you have suffered a significant injury, attending to your injuries should be your number one priority. However, speaking with an attorney as soon as possible is also very important.
At Goldenberg Lauricella, we often meet people at the hospital or at their homes if their injuries prevent them from traveling to our office. We do this because we know how crucial timeliness can be to an investigation.
Whether you were injured in a car accident, worksite accident, or some other type of catastrophic event, we conduct a thorough investigation into the causes and circumstances. The law is all about facts and evidence, and your case is helped immeasurably when your personal injury lawyer can document and gather evidence immediately after the event.
Accident reconstruction experts often rely on physical evidence that can degrade or vanish in a matter of days. Imagine trying to reconstruct an accident when the vehicles have been towed, tire marks have vanished, and the guardrails repaired.
… Or after the wreckage is cleaned up:
Physical evidence almost always trumps human memory in legal matters. For example, a person who rear-ended you may say that he or she started braking 300 feet before they hit you. However, an investigation by our experts may uncover details that tell a different story.
Depending on the severity of the accident, skid marks, yaw marks, fluid stains, gouge marks, and vehicle debris could be left at the site of an accident. The sooner we are involved, the better chance we have to conduct an investigation using these clues, or outlines of them drawn by police.
Many vehicles have a black box (data event recorder) that records information prior to and during a crash event. Commercial vehicles often have even more detailed recording devices.
However, human memory still plays a significant role. Although it may seem like the accident was too traumatic to forget, there are many details that can become fuzzy over time. When did you put on your blinker? How long had the light been red? How many cars were in front of you?
This does not mean you should rush to give a statement to insurance companies or police, but speaking confidentially with us will help us get a better idea of what happened. For the same reason, it is important to interview witnesses as soon as possible.
If you’ve been hurt anywhere in Minnesota and want to speak to an experienced personal injury attorney, please contact Goldenberg Lauricella today for a free consultation.