Getting Accident and Injury Records of Prior Accident Victims

 If you were injured in an accident, you may wonder how many other people might have been injured in the same way. That would seem to be pretty compelling evidence that the Defendant did something wrong.

For example, if you had a loved one injured in a nursing home, you may ask “I wonder how many other people have been abused in this nursing home?”

Or, if you fell on defective stairs, you may ask “I bet a lot of other people have been injured on these stairs also.”

If you were injured as a result of medical malpractice, you may want to know how many of that doctor’s other patients have also been injured by that same doctor.

Compelling But Private

All of this may seem like pretty compelling evidence that would persuade a jury that the Defendant was careless, negligent, or that it did something wrong. The difficulty in this evidence however, is getting it in the first place.

That’s because all of these other people, who may have been injured in the same way you were, or by the same Defendant you were injured by, all are people with privacy rights, and they don’t want you, much less a court of law, knowing about their business, their accidents, or their injuries. They aren’t involved in any lawsuit, didn’t sue anyone and may have no idea that you, as an injured victim, are trying to get information about their injuries or accidents.

Will the Defendant Object?

If you ask for information during your injury lawsuit, the Defendant will probably object, and the Defendant does have a right to try to defend these third parties’ privacy. Of course, the Defendant probably doesn’t care about these past victims—the Defendant just wants to keep you from getting pretty good evidence to help your case.

But regardless of their interior motive, the law does allow Defendants to object on privacy concerns, when you ask for this kind of information.

What Will a Court Do?

And a court won’t just compel a defendant to turn their information over, either. A court will work to protect the privacy rights of these unknown individuals.

If you do ask and there is an objection, the court may ask to see the information in camera (meaning, in private). The judge may look at the prior victim’s information, and determine whether it is too private to be produced, whether it can be produced, or whether it should be produced, with redactions (that is, with certain information struck out or blacked out or omitted).

A court also will ask whether you can get the information you need, in any other way, other than trying to get this prior victim information. The court may ask that you exhaust all other avenues, such as taking depositions before it allows you access to prior victim information.

Having a good case and being able to prove it are two different things. Let us help.  Call us for help and to schedule a consultation with our Tampa personal injury lawyers at Barbas, Nunez, Sanders, Butler & Hovsepian today for help with your accident or injury case.

Sources:

nita.org/s/product/in-camera-inspections-who-gets-to-see-the-material-and-when/01t4W00000Da6AI

cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-law-and-medicine/article/in-camera-inspections-of-privileged-records-in-sexual-assault-trials-balancing-defendants-rights-and-state-interests-under-massachusettss-bishop-test/15733C4D881C153CB68718829616B1BA