Nothing can be more damaging to your case, than having an overzealous witness ruin their credibility, and yours. Witnesses generally want to help an auto accident victim they perceive to be in the right. Trouble arises when that witness tries to hard, and wants to "help" by doing things that affect their credibility. The most common example is the biased witness, see Biased Witness. This witness exaggerates what they saw or heard, and in short order is discounted by the insurance carrier in all their opinions. Whether as a witness for damages or liability, once credibility is compromised, the witness is of no use to your case. Worse, your case may be linked to the lack of credibility of the witness, if the witness is someone known to you, or who you produced to support your case.

What can you do? Two options are available, hire an attorney, or take on the task of educating the witness that exaggeration will hurt your case. Contact Us Online or by phone at 1-888-752-7474, if you want an experienced auto accident attorney to handle your case. For those of you who want to tackle this project, read on.

First it is important that you review Interviewing an Auto Accident Witness, and Witness Bias, before you contact the witness. By doing so, you will have many more tools at your disposal to educate the witness on how to help you.

In short, you want the witness to help you by stating the honest facts as they observed, and without exaggeration. Frequently this is accomplished by reviewing, with the witness, their version of events or observations. Where it seems exaggerated, or where they elaborate beyond the facts, you will want to ask them why they have that opinion. Make sure that the opinion is well founded in actual observations, and is consistent with other known facts from other sources. Educate the witness on the other sources.

As an example of estimating your speed, if the witness concludes you were traveling 15 MPH, and you know you were at 30 MPH, the speed limit, tell the witness why you knew your speed. Provide the witness with observations of other witnesses, that are significantly different than this witness.

Suppose as another example, a witness that personally knows you wants to help write a statement, saying you were 6 weeks flat on your back after the auto accident. You know this is not true. You can remind the witness that actually you did get out of bed and do certain things, because you had to. Remind the witness that you drove yourself to the doctor, and that you had to go into work ½ days because you were so far behind financially. Explain that you want the witness to help you, by providing the most accurate information that they observed, not that they heard or thought you wanted to hear. Encourage the witness that they are doing great by giving actual and factual testimony, rather than conjecture. Tell them the importance of your credibility in settling your claim, see the 5 Winning Tips to Settling Your Automobile Accident Case.

In the end you will be grateful to that witness, when she is not discounted as a biased or exaggerating witness, and usable as a further support for your case. As always, these tips are designed to give you ideas on how to remedy problems in your case. Feel free to call us at 1-888-752-7474 or Contact Us Online, if you wish a free consultation on your case.