Obtaining a Third-Party Account of a Maryland Car Accident

As Maryland personal injury lawyers, the legal staff at Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, has been representing victims of car, truck and motorcycle accidents for years. The knowledge and training we bring to bear on every case allows us to provide our clients with an aggressive litigation to help recover the costs of medical care, rehab expenses, long-term nursing and related expenditures following a serious traffic collision. Whether a roadway crash happens in Bowie, Rockville, Annapolis or Washington, D.C., our capable attorneys are prepared to help.

For those families who have lost a loved one in a senseless and tragic car or commercial trucking accident, we offer our services as a way to assist the surviving family members find their way through the anguish and heartache in an effort to let them get on with their lives without having to bear the additional financial burden associated with their loved one’s death. Lebowitz & Mzhen can handle wrongful death lawsuits, which can help a family pay for the costs arising from medical and other related costs that were necessitated to try to help save the victim.

An important part of almost any automobile injury or wrongful death case is the eyewitness accounts that help to bolster the plaintiff’s claim against the responsible party. While it is certainly important to retain a skilled Maryland personal injury attorney to represent you in court, having both the law and a preponderance of the facts on one’s side can be even more crucial to a successful personal injury claim.

As professional Baltimore auto accident lawyers, our experienced team of legal experts is well aware of the critical amount of information that can be tied to eyewitness accounts of a negligence-related traffic collision. Obtaining, analyzing and using that information to bolster the plaintiff’s case is the job of any qualified personal injury attorney pursuing justice for his or her clients.

An eyewitness to a serious injury accident can be one of the best sources of evidence when filing a personal injury claim against a negligent motorist or other responsible party. Obtaining statements from eyewitnesses is important, though most Maryland trial attorneys will want to interview any witnesses firsthand. The professional legal team at Lebowitz & Mzhen is well-versed in obtaining affidavits and factual statements from eyewitnesses.

A witness to a bad traffic wreck can be invaluable when it comes time for the plaintiff’s lawyers to piece together the details of what actually occurred prior to, during and right after a roadway crash. Those statements from eyewitnesses can also turn out to be key evidence later on, should there be a subsequent lawsuit or insurance claim requiring information to determine legal responsibility for the collision. The following are some important points to remember when it comes to questioning a witness to a bad traffic wreck.

How and When to Question an Eyewitness

Although witnesses can be questioned at the scene of the car, truck or motorcycle collision, it is often best to simply get the important contact information from each individual who saw the event happen. In this way, those key individuals can be asked the correct questions later on, most likely by one’s lawyer and separate from the chaos and stress of the actual accident scene.

Interviews can often be accomplished by a simple phone call, while in-person meetings can also be arranged depending on the importance of the information that the witness has. Regardless of the strength of any particular witness’s information, it is always best to interview the person as soon as possible, while the events of the accident are still fresh in their mind.

Determine the Eyewitness’s Location at the Time of the Accident

It is essential, for the sake of one’s case, to establish how a particular eyewitness ended up observing the car or truck crash, and any precipitating events following the accident. This latter part could include much later events, such as when the victim(s) received medical treatment. Of the usual points that should be established, the following are typically key items:

• When did the witness arrive at the scene of the accident?
• Where did he come from and where was he going when the accident occurred?
• In which direction was the witness looking prior to, during, and after the crash?
• How far from the collision was the witness at the moment of the collision or other related events?
• Did the eyewitness have a clear view of the particular event at all times?

Getting All of the Facts

When speaking to an eyewitness to a motorcycle, automobile or commercial trucking accident, the goal of any skilled lawyer is to obtain the entirety of the witness’s knowledge and understanding of the event,. Getting those important statements recorded for later use is essential to a successful personal injury or wrongful death claim.

At Lebowitz & Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers, we understand how critical it is to get an eyewitness’s firsthand account of a serious road accident. Occasionally, simply using an open-ended question is better than asking simple “yes” or “no” questions. For instance, asking a witness if he or she can “walk us through what you saw?” can yield better results than asking specific questions that may influence a particular answer based on assumptions about the crash. In any case, a skilled attorney will be ready to ask follow-up questions of the eyewitness in order to fill in any gaps in that person’s understanding of the event.

Finally, avoiding any third-party or second-hand information is very important. For an eyewitness to be credible, the person’s first-hand knowledge of a traffic accident or subsequent events needs to be certain. The lawyers at Lebowitz & Mzhen understand the importance of asking only questions that elicit responses of a first-hand nature from an eyewitness. Those eyewitness observations and personal impressions of what happened are best; and always avoid any speculation regarding what other drivers, passengers, or witnesses might have seen, heard or said. This all goes toward the admissibility of evidence, which is governed by strict rules in all state and federal courts. Every conscientious personal injury attorney will want to avoid inadmissible “hearsay” evidence that he or she knows cannot be used in a personal injury lawsuit.

As always, there is more to understanding the law than knowing any single clause in the Maryland legal statutes. Because of this, Lebowitz & Mzhen recommends that anyone seeking a qualified auto accident lawyer get to know the qualifications of a legal expert ahead of time. A competent attorney understands not just the intricacies of the law, but should also have the skills to litigate a personal injury claim in a courtroom.

As skilled professionals with years of trial experience, the lawyers at Lebowitz & Mzhen are committed to helping victims recover those medical and rehabilitation costs to which they are legally entitled under the law. These costs should include not only past and current healthcare expenses related to a car, truck or motorcycle crash, but also to any anticipated expenses into the future due to lingering or permanent physical disabilities caused as a result of a traffic collision. Please call our legal offices at (800) 654-1949 to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with a personal injury attorney. You may also email either Jack Lebowitz or Vadim Mzhen.