Experts in Personal Injury Claims
“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
Niels Bohr
Witnesses in a personal injury claim trial, or any trial for that matter, are only allowed to testify to facts. However, in some circumstances a witness may be allowed to offer an opinion. Only witnesses that have been accepted by the court as an expert in their field can offer their opinion.
Who Can Be An Expert?
Almost anyone can be qualified as an expert if they have special knowledge in a certain field that the average person doesn’t have.
Personal Injury Claims
However, there are certain experts that routinely testify in personal injury claims:
Doctors: Your doctor and any of the specialist that have treated you will normally testify about the nature of your injuries, the symptoms you exhibited, the treatment they administered and their prognosis (their opinion) as to how your injuries will effect you in the future.
Physiotherapists: Your physiotherapist will testify about the treatment you needed and that you will need to get in order to fully recover from your injuries.
Occupational Therapists: Will testify about the limitations that your injuries have caused and how they impact your ability to work or perform your normal day to day activities.
Actuaries or Economists: Will testify about how much income you have lost to the date of trial, how your injuries will effect your ability to earn income in the future, and calculate the cost of your ongoing medical rehabilitation expenses.
Future Care Planners: Will provide their opinion about what types of aids you require or expenses you are going to have to hire people to help you with your normal day to day activities.
Each of the experts that testify on your behalf will bring special knowlege to the case in order to help prove a different aspect of the damages or losses that you have suffered as a result of your injuries.
I have been representing victims of serious personal injuries for 18 years. I wrote The Consumers Guide to Car Accident Claims in Nova Scotia and The Consumers Guide to Medical Malpractice Claims in Canada to help injured victims get fair compensation.
Both books are available for sale on Amazon.
But if you live in Atlantic Canada, you can get a free copy of either the book by contacting me through this blog, visiting my website at www.apmlawyers.com or by calling me toll free in Atlantic Canada at 1-877-423-2050.
