Find Expert Witness Personal Injury Damages Orange County

By Douglas McDonald


Personal injury cases may require evidence or proof of the alleged damages suffered by the party alleging the loss. In legal terms this party is called the plaintiff, the person bringing the action. The person or party being sued is called the defendant. The plaintiff in a personal injury suit alleges that they suffered some type of personal loss due to the negligence of the defendant. In these types of suits, the plaintiff may seek the services of an expert witness personal injury damages Orange County.

There is a story behind every case. Some are mundane and some are extraordinary. Whatever the underlying facts may be, the plaintiff must attempt to prove that first the loss did occur, and that second the harm was the result of negligent behavior by the defendant.

Expert witnesses may cover just about any field, such as accounting, finance, medical and specialized areas such as the evidence left at the scene of an automobile accident. In this type of civil lawsuit, if the plaintiff is claiming medical damages, he or she will need to present a physician to testify that the injury exists and that allegedly negligent defendant caused the harm.

In the same case, the plaintiff may need a finance expert to assess the amount of damages, or losses, he or she sustained. If the plaintiff suffered permanent disability from which he or she will not recover, such as blindness or permanent damage to the spine that resulted in paralysis, the finance expert will take all the facts into consideration and estimate the amount of earnings lost due to the injury.

Age and earning potential factor into the total value of the estimated losses. A young movie star who makes ten million dollars a film and has lucrative endorsement contracts will have losses in the multi millions. An elderly man living on a fixed income with advanced lung cancer will have substantially less in terms of lost income. All these facts and others factor into the estimated amount of lost income.

The witness in this scenario will only attest to the lost income. He or she is not qualified to attest to any other facts or allegations, such as whether or not the defendant was negligent. Witnesses cannot venture from their area of expertise.

These witnesses charge an hourly fee. The range of fees is very broad, as low as two hundred fifty and as high as one thousand dollars per hour. If the plaintiff prevails, the witness fees will be deducted from the settlement or award. Experts are expensive, but it is impossible to bring a matter to trial without the use of at least one expert witness. In many cases there are several expert witnesses.

Orange County has several highlights. Disneyland is in Anaheim and the deceased President Ronald Reagan had a home in San Clemente. For the most part, residents are affluent and well educated. This can mean they tend to be litigious. Personal injury attorneys in the County have connections with expert witnesses of all types. It is a good idea to meet with an attorney and discuss the merits of your case. The first consultation is free of charge, and if he or she accepts your case it will likely be on a contingency basis.




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