Interviewer: What other mistakes do people make , for example when somebody says too much; what else could they say that could hurt their case?
Richard Sailer: I typically don’t like them to give any specifics in terms of things like their speed, the distance between vehicles, forces of impact, things like that; that are beyond maybe their scope of knowledge. I usually refer those type of issues to an action reconstructionistor an expert because the class thing you want to have your client do is say something they believe to be true but may not be true – and that later on hurts their case.
Giving Too Much Information May Result in The Statement Seeming like It is Exaggerated
Interviewer: If someone’s not knowledgeable, how can they determine that.
Richard Sailer: Exactly. You know sometimes two people get in an accident, they get hit, and they never see the vehicle that hits them. You know, they’re sitting at a stop looking forward and they get rear endedand a lot of times the insurance company will ask them, ‘well how fast was the driver going?’ Well they have no idea about that but they’ll give an estimate and they’ll say, ‘I think it hit me at 50 miles an hour’ – which makes it pretty easy for the insurance company later on, to look at the damage of the vehicles, look at the crush zones, and the force of the impact, and say, ‘hey it was really only a ten mile an hour impact’ and now the client looks like they’re exaggerating the facts of the loss. But it’s not intentional, it’s just the fact that they have no basis of comparison. They felt a big jar so they thought it was a fifty mile an hour impact, when in fact it was a fifteen mile an hour impact, based on the physical properties of the collision. But it makes it look like – to the insurance company – it makes it look like the client’s exaggerating the potential damages even though it’s clearly unintentional.
It Is Advisable To Avoid Posting Information About An Accident on Social Media Like Facebook or Twitter
Interviewer: What about talking to friends and family about the case, or even social media – you see people posting on Facebook or Twitter –
Richard Sailer: That’s becoming more and more common. You’re finding the need to instruct clients not to post any kind of commentary regarding their accident, regarding the facts of the loss. Sometimes – I’ve had a couple of situations even where to parties involved in litigation have got into a battle in social media, going back and forth about who cause the accident on social media; which then obviously doesn’t bode well and tempers flare, and the insurance company then will pull those records and someone obviously will say something at some point, that they shouldn’t. But we usually advise clients not to post any comments or photos or anything like that, or discuss their case on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media outlets.
If You’ve Been In An Accident, It is Advisable To Get Checked By a Doctor
Interviewer: What about medical treatments, what if someone feels okay initially then later on they’re hurting? Should people always go to a doctor no matter what or what should they do?
Richard Sailer: If they have any concern, I usually recommend that you go and get checked out. I can’t tell you how often I get a call from somebody who had an accident two months ago, three months ago, six months ago, and they say, ‘hey I just woke up and I couldn’t get out of bed, I’ve got a problem, I think it was from this accident that happened three months ago and there had been no base line of care, and that renders me ineffective and I wouldn’t be able to tie that injury or treatment back to the accident because there was no base line of care’. So I always recommend if you’ve had an accident, get checked out.
Symptoms of Injuries Sustained in an Accident Manifest Within 3 to 5 Days of the Accident
Interviewer: How – I mean have you seen that injuries can manifest themselves more than a day later or a week later?
Richard Sailer: Yes my experience is that symptoms typically come on within the first three to five days following an accident. Anything after that, then we’ve really got to look at was the damage to the vehicle, what was the mechanism of injury, how did the accident happen, and can we really tie this in to the accident?
