Most personal injury cases will require expert evidence.
The usual types of experts retained by us for you are medical doctors, surgeons, psychologists, psychiatrists, valuators and appraisers. Medical expert witnesses are needed to convince the adjusters that your injuries are what they are. Medical experts for instance assist in explaining in medical terms what your injuries are and how they have impacted your health.,
Experts also assist a judge and jury understand the technical and medical aspects of your case.
In every negligence personal injury case, an injured person must prove that the person who injured them [person at fault] owed them a duty of care to ensure they are safe, that the duty was breached and that the breach caused the damages claimed. This is a simplistic explanation but you get the picture.
An expert will assist the adjuster and judge and jury if the matter is in Court about the “standard of care” required of the particular person at fault. Experts such as actuaries or appraisers can provide evidence as to the value of certain losses [such as loss of income] and can also give evidence in Court about the extent of damages and losses caused by the person at fault.
An expert is not needed in every case. These cases are rare however. Expert witnesses can be expensive, but are needed to prove the vast majority of cases.
At PQTLaw, in most contingency fee cases, we will hire experts for you and pay them ourselves – we recover the cost from the settlement. Usually, the medical experts we retain are also your own treating physicians and surgeons.