Videotaping Lay Witnesses Can Be A Powerful Settlement Tool In Personal Injury And Death Cases

In wrongful death cases, our firm has been doing videotaping of the decedent's family members to show the impact of the death on the beneficiaries. By carefully preparing and shooting the videos, the injury lawyer can get some very powerful footage of how the wrongful death has impacted the family. My law partner, Jim Lewis, particularly has been very effective at using edited versions of these taped conversations with the family of the person wrongfully killed in a truck wreck to extract maximum value at a mediated settlement of the case. The idea is to give the insurance company and the defense lawyer a real taste of how strong, believable and sad the testimony at trial will be in these important cases.

Recently, there was an article by Allen Michaelis, who is the man we use to put together powerful computer and videotape evidence for injury trials, that was published in the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association magazine. This magazine provides training material that goes to all Virginia personal injury lawyers who belong to the organize across the state. In his article, Mr. Michaelis described how Jim Lewis, as a 25 year veteran injury attorney, so effectively used videotape of a family in a wrongful death case where a truck killed a railroad worker on his commute back to serve as a Trackman for CSX.

In this educational piece for the VTLA, the questions used by Jim Lewis were cited to help other injury lawyers develop this powerful testimony. The questions included the following:

1. Here are some photographs. Tell us some of the things that your husband liked to do when he wasn't working.
2. Tell us some of the things that you and your husband enjoyed doing together.
3. Tell me when was the last time you saw your husband.
4. How did you hear about the car crash?
5. Tell us about the funeral.
6. What do you miss most about your husband?
7. If you could see your husband just one more time, what would you say to him?

As you can imagine, the widow telling her story in this way can be extremely powerful. The adult children can also tell more about their dad and little stories about his life. Once edited down to the very best material, such videotaping of lay witnesses can be the difference between getting a reasonable settlement and an extraordinary one in wrongful death and injury cases.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

How can you identify a top Virginia injury lawyer for your case? Look no further.

Our VA personal injury lawyers have been selected for many accolades.

Two of the attorneys with our Virginia Beach accident injury law firm, James Lewis and Rick Shapiro, have been named the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Two of our VA injury lawyers -- Lewis and Shapiro - have been named to Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury since 2010. In addition, Lewis and Shapiro have been selected for inclusion in the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009. 

Our VA accident injury law firm was the first in the commonwealth nvited to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms. Rick Shapiro was named as one of the Top 100 Injury Lawyers in Virginia by the National Trial Lawyers Association.

In October, 2000 our law firm and co-counsel obtained what was then the largest verdict in Virginia's history for an injured person. Our brain damaged client received an initial award of $46 million that rose to $60 million with interest when the defendant abandoned an appeal and agreed to settle. 

Geographical Areas

Our personal injury lawyers handle personal injury cases throughout the eastern USA, and work closely with lawyers in other states on signficant injury cases.

In Virginia, this includes Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, Richmond, Petersburg, Roanoke, Salem, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Ashland, Big Stone Gap, and every community on the Eastern Shore, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteauge, Wachapreague, and Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island.

In West Virginia, we can handle personal injury claims in Bluefield, Beckley, Bridgeport, Charles Town, Charleston, Fairmont, Huntington, Lewisburg, Madison, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Moundsville, Parkersburg, Ripley, Sutton, Weirton, Wheeling and any other town or county.

Injury Lawyers licensed in VA, WV, North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC.