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You might need to interact with experts who will consult with you or your lawyer or who will testify in your personal injury case. This blog will discuss some of the many kinds of experts that you may encounter during your personal injury claim/case.
You do not have to find your experts or navigate the personal injury claims or litigation process by yourself. A Los Angeles personal injury attorney could handle your case on your behalf and help you fight for the compensation you deserve from the at-fault party.
Experts Who Will Testify
These experts can testify at trial or deposition about technical or complicated issues that the judge or jury might need help understanding. A fact witness or ordinary witness can only provide testimony about what they experienced, in other words, what they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, did, or said.
Expert witnesses are different from fact witnesses. An expert witness must have special knowledge, education, experience, training, or skill that gives them the ability to form an expert opinion about an issue in the personal injury case.
For example, a medical expert could testify about the extent of a person’s injuries and their likelihood of achieving 100 percent recuperation. A person without the education, advanced degrees, and years of experience needed to evaluate these issues would not get certified by the judge as a medical expert.
Some of the expert witnesses who might testify in a deposition or trial in a personal injury lawsuit include the following:
- Accident Reconstruction Experts. These professionals can investigate an accident, take measurements and photographs at the scene of the collision, and use their expertise to perform functions like calculating the speed the vehicles traveled at the time of the crash and determining what caused the accident.
- Medical Experts. A medical expert can review medical records, examine the plaintiff, and testify about the severity and types of injuries the person suffered. A medical expert can guide the court on questions of whether the accident likely caused the wounds, what lingering impairments the injured person still has, and their prognosis.
- Engineering Experts. Product liability claims about defective or dangerous consumer goods that injure people often utilize engineering experts to explain the details of what made the item dangerous and how it hurt the plaintiff.
- Vocational Rehabilitation Experts. These experts can tell the court how the plaintiff’s injuries limit their ability to perform the functions needed to make a living.
- Life Care Planning Experts. Life care experts can create a lifetime medical treatment and personal care plan for a person with life-changing wounds, and project the expenses of that medical and personal care.
- Mental Health Experts. Cases that involve mental health issues often use mental health experts to present those aspects of the case in court and answer the judge’s questions.
- Economic Experts. These experts can present financial information to the judge and jury.
- Manufacturing Experts. When defective manufacturing causes harm to an individual, these experts can explain what went wrong during the manufacturing process.
- Street and Highway Safety Experts. Sometimes, substandard road design, construction, or maintenance can cause motor vehicle accidents. These experts can address the relevant issues for the court.
If your personal injury case involves other issues, you might be able to use a different type of expert witness to testify.
Consulting Experts
Your personal injury attorney might consult with an expert witness about technical issues when evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of your case.
You can contact a Los Angeles personal injury attorney today to get started. The initial consultation is free. Contact our office today.