After virtually any type of accident or incident, if you are able to secure witness statements, it will be very helpful for your case. Witness statements- or at the very least identification and contact information for witnesses- may be very persuasive regarding how the accident or incident occurred.

It is commonly said that two people seeing the same event may recall it differently, focus on different aspects, or actually see different things.  Confirmation of your version of the events through witness statements is extremely powerful and may even allow you to avoid litigation. A witness statement confirming your version of the events may convince the other side of the truth of your facts without even forcing litigation or a further claim.

Witness statements are discoverable in litigation and, if beneficial to your case, usually should be provided to the other side as soon as possible. Witnesses, considered neutral, meaning they are not particularly “for” one side or the other, are very persuasive to a conclusion of what happened, when, and how.

Even if you cannot get witness statements, try at least to get the names and contact information of anyone that may have witnesses your accident or events, so that the witnesses may be contacted later. Also, if you are aware of a witness, make sure that the investigating police officer, if any, includes the witness contact information and statements in the police report.