What to Tell Your Lawyer
October 1, 2008
So, you’ve been in an accident and you have suffered an injury. You seem to hurt every day. You’ve taken a big step meeting with a lawyer for the first time ever. And now you’re going to be suing someone for the accident. You’re scared about the process and it leaves you wondering, “How much does my lawyer really need to know?”
Lots of questions cross your mind. Do you tell your lawyer that you were in an accident before? Do you tell her that you had similar pain before? Or is it better to say nothing and hope no one ever finds out? After all, won’t your case be better if no one ever knows the “bad stuff”?
The truth is this…tell your lawyer all the “bad stuff”. Despite what you believe, the truth will be discovered. If you want to convince yourself otherwise, you will almost certainly be terribly disappointed when the defence lawyers find out the truth. The last thing you want to do is give the defence an opportunity to paint you as a liar. When that happens, everything about your case will be viewed skeptically.
Perhaps I’ve been fortunate (or maybe willfully blind) but in all my years of practicing law, I don’t think I’ve ever run into one client who purposely lied about their injuries. However, a few have thought it would simply make their case sound better if they only told ‘part of the story’. Most of these people had good cases to start with. So I can’t figure out why they’d jeopardize the success of their cases.
Some people simply don’t know what medical conditions are relevant to their case. The answer to this is – everything. Yes, every medical condition may be relevant to your case so tell your lawyer about all conditions. Then your lawyer will decide which issues are relevant and which need not be revealed up-front.
Those things you think are bad for your case usually aren’t so bad if your lawyer has the opportunity to deal with problems in a case in a well-planned, well thought out manner.
Here are some things you need to know:
· Medical records record almost every little detail of your life. When you tell a doctor something, it usually ends up on paper.
· You won’t remember all the little things you have spoken with doctors about over the years.
· Medical records dating back many, many years will be collected by your lawyer. Accept this fact because you have no choice about this when you pursue legal action.
· The defence is entitled to review medical billing records. If you ‘forget’ to tell your lawyer that you visited a certain doctor for a certain condition, the billing records will show precisely who you visited and the general purpose of the visit.
· You will be subject to examinations under oath. You will be asked questions about some very intimate details of your health. Lawyers have a knack for knowing when you leave out details.
· If you have been upfront with your lawyer about your past health history, he / she will have had an opportunity to review all relevant health records before the defence ever gets to ask you a question. Your lawyer can prepare you for those questions and can prepare your case based on your past history.
· It is ALWAYS better for your lawyer to be able to prepare you and your case up front by knowing all the weaknesses of your case, rather than being caught off guard at trial. There is great risk of losing if your lawyer is caught off guard.
· The best way to lose your case is to withhold information from your lawyer.
· Don’t assume you know what is ‘bad’ for your case.
I suppose the point of all of this is…tell your lawyer everything. What your lawyer doesn’t know will hurt you.
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