How Expert Witnesses Strengthen Serious Injury Claims in South Carolina
Obtaining witness testimony from experienced medical, occupational, economic, and accident reconstruction experts can make or break your case. Mark C. Tanenbaum, our Charleston personal injury lawyer, works with a trusted team of accident experts to overcome baseless insurance denials, increase settlement offers, and, if necessary, prove your case at trial. Schedule a free and confidential serious injury case review at our Charleston, S.C. office today.
Types of Expert Witnesses in Personal Injury Cases
Under South Carolina law, injured plaintiffs have the burden of proving their entitlement to financial damages after serious accidents. Your personal injury lawyer must first show by reliable evidence that the defendant caused the accident and associated injury. After proving liability, victims must then confirm the nature and amount of the damages sustained. This often requires expert witness testimony in severe injury cases.
Expert witnesses are individuals, typically with both experience and advanced degrees in a particular field, qualified to provide professional opinions to the court in their areas of expertise. Both the plaintiff and defendant might hire the following expert witnesses in high-value injury cases:
- Medical Experts: Doctors, particularly specialists, qualified to testify as to the nature and extent of the injury, including your prognosis and required treatment.
- Occupational Experts: Often retained to provide detailed reports about the value of lost earnings, promotions, and workplace benefits if your injury results in a long-term disability.
- Accident Reconstruction Specialists: Can be engineers or other experts with experience determining liability in complex cases involving conflicting testimony and multiple potential defendants.
- Mechanical, Technical, or Safety Experts: Experts retained in specific cases, such as after construction site accidents, to testify on technical and safety matters.
- Economic Experts: Important experts retained in high-value cases to calculate the overall value of your lifetime personal injury damages after life-altering Charleston accidents.
Whether you need expert testimony depends on the nature and value of your case, but most claimants typically require at least expert medical and economic testimony to prove their high-value claims.
Cost of Obtaining Qualified South Carolina Serious Injury Experts
Expert witnesses add significant value to your case, but their testimony is expensive. Whereas commercial insurance companies often keep experts on retainers, seriously injured accident victims can seldom afford to hire qualified expert witnesses. For this reason, reputable Charleston personal injury law firms will generally front the cost of all necessary expert witness reports and testimony as part of a contingency fee arrangement.
Contingency fees provide for the repayment of expert witness costs, often totaling thousands of dollars, only if your attorney successfully recovers damages in your case. Experienced serious injury lawyers might also accept your case without charging you any upfront legal fees. Instead, they’ll take a portion of any eventual injury settlement as their legal fee. The client might not owe anything out-of-pocket, including expert witness costs, if her lawyer cannot recover damages in her case.
Contact a Reputable Personal Injury Legal Team
If you suffered from a serious accident injury in Charleston, you might need expert witnesses to help prove liability and damages. Personal injury lawyer Mark C. Tanenbaum in South Carolina works with a team of trusted expert witnesses to help maximize the value of claims. We might even front all necessary expert fees and costs. Discuss your claims with his legal team for free today by calling (843) 577-5100 or connecting with them online.