Idle time is the Devil's workshop so be proactive with your Maryland car crash or P.I. claim. Which means tighten up the elements of proof necessary both to win at trial and to persuade the insurance company not to try your case in the first place.
Every case has at least two major components, liability (legal responsibility) and damages. Each has its own subsidiary aspects but a simple clear-eyed focus on the basics works well. Here are five simple suggestions:
1). On liability, understand why the other driver is at fault and appreciate that they may well have either a different perspective on how and why the accident occurred or have undergone a change of heart on their previously professed responsibility. They may have told you at the scene that they were sorry and that it was all their fault but if they deny that later, you better have a backup plan.
If your backup plan is a witness or the investigating police officer make sure you speak to them and subpoena them to court. Police reports aren't admissible in court on their own and any admission the at-fault driver made to the police necessarily must come from the officer's own lips.
2). Don't neglect to identify the at-fault driver at trial as merely suing someone isn't enough to prove they bear responsibility. An easy way to pin down the at-fault driver is to send them interrogatories asking about their involvement.
3). Make sure your medical records and bills associated with the case are complete and correlate each other. Turning in an MRI bill at trial without the accompanying report and the doctor's report referring you for the MRI can undermine your ability to get paid for the expensive diagnostic test.
4). If you are seeking lost wages make sure you know how you arrived at what you are seeking and have some paperwork such as pay stubs or W-2s that show that you did work somewhere and were paid a specific wage or salary.
5). Finally on lost income unless your injury is so obviously one that made work infeasible ( a broken leg for a fireman or police officer) make sure you have doctor's notes supporting your lost time from work.
Most importantly, get a good lawyer, their work more than pays for its cost.
