An expert witness is a professional with a lot of specialized knowledge about some part of your personal injury case.
In Washington State, personal injury cases are tried in front of a jury. More times than not you will get the fairest possible trial because of this. A jury, however, is not like an expert witness. The people who comprise a jury are regular citizens just like you. They don’t have a deeper knowledge around injuries, medical conditions, or the law. Because of this, explaining your case to a jury without the help of an experienced professional can be difficult.
Different types of court cases will request all kinds of expert witnesses. This ranges all the way from handwriting experts to fire investigators. In regards to a personal injury case, however, the most common you will see are doctors and other medical professionals and accident reconstructionists.
How Does An Expert Witness Affect My Case?
“If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.” – Courts.wa.gov
When an expert witness takes the stand in your case, he will be giving his expert testimony. This is their professional opinion in regards to a part of your case. Expert testimony can help your case is several ways. Here’s just some of them below:
- Proving that you have been experiencing pain, or that your medical condition is real.
- Helping the jury to understand complicated medical concepts.
- Explaining what kind of treatments you needed/will need and why.
- Explaining why a particular party was at fault for the accident, based on a reconstruction of the timing of the collision, the sight distances of each driver, and the angles of impact.
Not only this, but an expert witness takes the conjecture out of your case. It is no longer your word against the insurance company’s. Now there’s a neutral third party professional that understands your injury, and testifying that you are right. These testimonies can have very powerful implications. We’ve seen million dollar cases won based on the opinion of one expert witness.
It’s All About Who You Know
Hiring an expert personal injury is always the smartest thing to do if you’ve been hurt due to someone else’s negligence in an auto accident. Having professionals who know when you would need an expert witness, and which reputable experts to contact, can make all the difference in your case.
Our experienced car accident lawyers at Premier Law Group have fought for thousands of people in the Seattle, Bellevue, Renton, and Federal Way area. If you were wrongfully injured, we will fight for you too! Give us a call at 206-880-7422 for a FREE consultation! We would be happy to speak with you!
Jason at premier law group is truly an outstanding individual. Our particular case was not something that their firm usually sees but they were more than willing to help us and give us all of the information they had available. I can't recommend them enough.