If you are involved in an accident or injury in Colorado, preserving any physical evidence of the incident and your injuries can support your position in any legal claim you may decide to pursue. It is important to do this as soon as possible after the incident, because circumstances can change quickly: accident scenes can be altered, memory can become unreliable, and evidence can be overlooked or misplaced over time.
Though it may be the last thing on your mind right after a traumatic experience, collecting and preserving evidence of your personal injury could be very beneficial should you decide to pursue legal action. Your attorney will be able to use the evidence you collect to help. If you are unable to collect evidence yourself, ask a friend or a loved one to do so for you! Preserving evidence of your accident or injury is one of the most important things you can do to protect your rights.
The first step to take in protecting evidence of your injury is to make sure that physical items are preserved, including torn clothing, broken equipment, and any documents. Here are some steps to take after some common injuries:
Auto Accidents: After a car accident, take photos of the scene, your injuries, and any property damage. In addition, get copies of all medical records pertaining to your treatment after the accident, keep copies of property damage estimates and repairs records, and obtain a copy of any police report that is made.
Defective Consumer Products: If you are injured by a faulty product, be sure to preserve the product in the same condition that it was in when the incident occurred. Keep all written instructions, warnings, labels, and packaging that accompanied the item. If you can, try to locate the original sales receipt for the item. If you cannot find the receipt in your own personal records, ask the seller if they have a copy.
Medical Malpractice: In a medical malpractice or birth injury case, keep or obtain copies of all medical records that pertain to the medical treatment at issue, as well as those related to any second or third opinions obtained from other health care providers. Also, in cases where a physical injury is visible, be sure to take photos that depict any evidence of potentially improper medical treatment.
Take Pictures! Remember that preserving physical evidence itself may not always be possible in every case involving an accident or injury. In these situations, your best option is to take clear and detailed photographs of the area where the injury occurred, from multiple angles, and ideally under the same conditions.
Should I Contact An Attorney? If you’ve been injured as the result of someone else’s carelessness in Colorado should contact an experienced attorney as soon as possible. An attorney can protect your rights and get you the fair compensation that you deserve. Get treatment for your injuries, collect evidence, take pictures, and contact a Colorado personal injury attorney right away.
Frequently Asked Questions: Colorado Class Action Lawsuits
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009What is a Class Action Lawsuit?
A class action lawsuit is one in which a group of people with the same or similar injuries sues a defendant as a group. Each group member is then eligible to receive a portion of the total compensation (if any) from the outcome of the case. This has several advantages to group members. A class action allows for legal action that might otherwise be impractical for individuals to undertake themselves. Class action participants often suffer injuries that may not be severe or expensive enough to justify the cost of taking legal action individually. As a group, or class, however, class members can consolidate and share attorneys, evidence, witnesses, and other associated costs, making pursuing class action worthwhile.
What Types of Cases Can Become Class Actions?
There are many different kinds of class actions lawsuits. A class may consist of people injured by a bad drug, a defective consumer product, including defective automobiles and defective medical devices, consumer fraud, corporate misconduct, consumer fraud, securities fraud, employment practices including racial discrimination, or people injured by a massive accident such as a chemical spill or an airplane crash.
What are the Advantages of a Class Action?
A class action lawsuit brings together and disposes of thousands of claims at one time that are impractical to litigate individually. A judge will make a decision with regard to the entire group. If the class of plaintiffs wins, the court finds the defendant liable for the plaintiffs’ injuries, and the amount of recovery is later divided among the plaintiffs.
Because it consolidates individual claims, the class action format lowers the frequently-high cost of litigation. Also, class actions are usually brought by attorneys who are particularly trained and experienced in litigating and managing complicated lawsuits. Class actions require much more work than the typical civil lawsuit, and class action attorneys know how to represent the plaintiffs in the class action.
Can I Join a Class Action?
Every person who would be affected by a court’s decision in a class action is entitled to notice that the action has started. Although it typically isn’t possible to give every individual personal notice, all persons who might be affected are entitled to the best notice possible. The court will order that the class representative, through his or her attorneys, make reasonable attempts to notify any unknown class members by media such as television, an advertisement in a magazine or newspaper, or a posted flyer. If you are notified of a class action you will have the opportunity to join in the action, or “opt in,” or decide not participate as a member of the class: to “opt out.”
If you have been injured by a product or person in Colorado and you think that there are others in your situation, you should seek legal counsel from a Colorado attorney experienced in representing class action lawsuits. An experienced Colorado class action attorney can help you navigate through the complex legal issues involved in setting up a class action, help connect you with other potential defendants, see the case through to the end and get you and others like you the compensation that you deserve.
For more information about class action lawsuits, view here