Timing is Everything

The Bodily Injury Plaintiff’s Background – Obtaining and Admitting the Evidence from Inception through Trial – CLE

Terrier Claims Services Mark Wilhelmsson and Jason Gudaitis along with other speakers recently participated in a continuing legal education seminar offered by The Defense Association Of New York(DANY) in New York City to discuss the aspects of a plaintiff’s background worth investigating, techniques and resources for investigating a plaintiff’s background; using depositions and other devices to obtain information, to establish foundations for discovery, and to authenticate investigation work product, the interplay of background investigation and trial preparation and using a plaintiff’s background at trial.

Background searches including DMV, National Profile, Litigation, Criminal Records, ISO Claim Search Casualty System, and Social Media searches provide information about the bodily injury plaintiff’s background.  Each of these searches provides a unique view of the history of the plaintiff and social media can provide up to date information regarding the plaintiff’s past and present activities.  Background searches should be performed prior to the issuance of the ISO Claim Search subpoena so that all relevant data can be noted on the subpoena itself including various spellings of the plaintiff’s name and aliases.  The plaintiff’s history background insures that all necessary authorization requests can be submitted and updated litigation searches can be performed with respect to the information returned.   Having the complete package prior to the deposition opens the opportunity to ask the questions that significantly impact the case.