Our Virginia Beach personal injury law firm hosted a seminar for members of the Virginia Beach Bar Association. This Virginia Beach, Virginia lawyers voluntary association includes lawyers who are based in Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk and in Virginia Beach, VA. Over 100 lawyers, including personal injury lawyers, attended the hot topics in personal injury seminar as did several judges.
Below is an excerpt from that seminar featuring information on how to handle a trucking wreck case in Virginia.
Preserving Evidence Once Retained by a Victim
Getting to the evidence immediately to preserve it is especially important in trucking cases because:
1. Most of the information you need to prove your case is coming from the defendant truck company. They have possession of the truck wreckage, the black boxes, as well as logs and other documents.
2. Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, some documents may be “legally discarded” by the defendants as soon as three-to-six months after the Virginia truck accident.
3. You need to send a “spoliation letter” to the defendant. This letter is a broad request to preserve all documents, equipment, data, photographs, and other items related to the truck wreck. Also, be sure to send this letter to both the trucking company and driver.
4. Get appropriate experts to examine both your client’s car and the commercial truck wreckage before it is altered or repaired.