Preserving Evidence of Your Personal Injury: What You Should Know

Copyright (c) 2010 Chuck Matthews

If you are involved in an accident or have sustained an injury in Colorado, preserving any physical evidence of the incident and your injuries can support your position in any legal claim you may decide to pursue. It is important to do this as soon as possible after the incident, because circumstances can change quickly as accident scenes can be altered, memory can become unreliable, and evidence can be overlooked or misplaced over time. You can be sure that attorneys for the defending parties in your case will seek to exploit these factors to your disadvantage.

Although it may be the last thing on your mind immediately following a traumatic experience, collecting and preserving evidence of your personal injury could be very beneficial should you decide to pursue legal action. Your attorney will be able to use the evidence you collect to help bolster your case in addition to refuting attempts by their legal counterparts to create doubt in a judge or jury?s eyes about the reliability of your or other witnesses stories and recollections. If you are unable to collect evidence yourself, ask a friend or a loved one to do so for you! Preserving evidence of your accident or injury is one of the most important things you can do to protect your rights.

The first step to take in protecting evidence of your injury is to make sure that physical items are preserved, including torn clothing, broken equipment, and any documents. Here are some evidence preservation steps to take after the occurrence of an accident resulting in an injury for some of the following common accidents and injuries:

Take Pictures! Keep in mind that the preservation physical evidence itself may not always be possible in every case involving an accident or injury. In these types of situations, your best option is to take clear and detailed photographs of the area where the injury occurred, from multiple angles, and ideally under the same conditions.

Car Accidents: Following a car accident, take photos of the scene, of any injuries you have sustained, and of any property damage. In addition, get copies of all medical records pertaining to your treatment after the accident, keep copies of property damage estimates and repairs records, and obtain a copy of any police report that is made.

Medical Malpractice: In a medical malpractice or birth injury case, keep or obtain copies of all medical records that pertain to the medical treatment at issue, as well as those related to any second or third opinions obtained from other health care providers. In addition, in cases where a physical injury is visible, be sure to take photos that depict any evidence of potentially improper medical treatment.

Defective Consumer Products: If you have been hurt by a defective product, be sure to preserve the product in the same condition that it was in when the incident occurred. Keep all written instructions, warnings, labels, and packaging that accompanied the item. If possible, attempt to find the original sales receipt for the item. If you can not locate the receipt in your own personal records, ask the seller if they have another copy.

Should I Contact A Personal Injury Attorney? If you've been injured as the result of someone else's carelessness in an accident taking place in Colorado, you should contact an experienced Colorado personal injury attorney as soon as possible.

An experienced personal injury lawyer will be able to identify any and all of the damages to which you are entitled with the goal of maximizing the compensation that you are entitled to for your injuries. If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident resulting in an injury, remember to first get treatment for your injuries, collect evidence, take pictures, and contact a Colorado personal injury attorney right away!


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If you have been involved in an accident or have been hurt as a result of an accident, preserving any physical evidence of the incident can support your case in any legal claim you may decide to pursue. Consequently, it's important to preserve any evidence immediately after the incident, as things can change quickly: accident scenes can be altered, memory can become unreliable, and evidence can be overlooked or misplaced.