Personal injury cases can disrupt your entire life. The injury, the stress, the recovery – all of it will take time and careful consideration. Your physical and mental health take priority in any personal injury case, but preserving your case will be important to secure any financial compensation for what you are going through.

One of the risks to your case that often goes unnoticed is what you say about your case and who you say it to. Anything you say can ultimately be relevant to your case, regardless of who you tell it to (excluding those who are legally bound by confidentiality).

Talk to Your Lawyer Before Anyone Else

The most important aspect of this is keeping all details to yourself until you are able to talk to your lawyer. They will have the legal expertise to get an understanding of your situation and advise on what should happen next.

If you want to talk to someone about the incident but aren’t sure how that could impact your case, talk to your attorney first. We understand that talking to your loved ones about this will help you through this, so we’re not entirely worried about those conversations. We’re more concerned about conversations with others that could add risk to your case.

Keep Medical Conversations About Medical Information

It’s important to trust the advice of medical professionals in your recovery. Their expertise will be critical in physical and mental recovery during your personal injury case. With that said, your conversations with your doctor should be kept about relevant medical information.

Small talk is a part of the job for medical professionals. They need to make their patients feel comfortable, but questions about what exactly happened in your case and about the circumstances that led up to your injury generally aren’t necessary. Questions that allow them to get a better understanding of your injury are fair, but questions about what color the light was when you entered the intersection or whether you were checking your phone or anything similar are unnecessary and create risk.

Be Careful In Speaking With Potential Witnesses

Gathering the contact information of potential witnesses at the scene could help your case significantly if you or others are able to do so. However, the conversations you have with those witnesses could be crucial to your case.

Witnesses will only know what they have seen, but they may question what they’ve seen if you accidentally give them information that changes their impression of what just happened. They might think you were observing the speed limit but a comment such as “I can’t believe this happened to me, I was barely going over the speed limit” can completely flip a witness against you.

At Sunshine, Isaacson & Hecht, we take pride in preserving our clients’ cases and securing victories for those who have been wronged. We will help you navigate your case from the very beginning. You can talk to us.