How a Personal Injury Attorney Will Challenge a Witness’s Credibility
One of the greatest challenges your New Jersey personal injury attorney will face is the situation where the witness is lying. If the witness does not provide the answer your attorney wants, there is nothing the attorney can do to force the appropriate response, but there are some strategies that may be employed to help bring a positive result.
Approaches that Will Challenge Credibility
Through precise questioning, an experienced New Jersey personal injury attorney can try to:
- Demonstrate that although the witness claims not to be able to remember important, relevant details about the incident, he or she can remember insignificant details about the same event
- Demonstrate that although the witness claims not to remember details about the events at issue, he or she has a clear recollection of other events that occurred long before
- Establish a pattern that the witness claims of “I don’t remember” are centered only on the incident and events that are critical to the issues of the case.
Specific Tactics
It is important to understand that the groundwork for challenging the credibility of any witness must be laid long before the actual testimony at trial. Your New Jersey personal injury attorney should identify a problematic witness and prepare by:
- Using the deposition to explore options for refreshing the witness’s memory by, for example, asking if there are any documents that would be helpful to assist in recollection
- Understanding that if the witness, despite every effort, continues to insist that he or she cannot remember, the attorney may be able to use this “forgetfulness” to completely negate the witness’s testimony on the issue.
The strategy in a personal injury case is always important and always unique to your case. If your case involves important testimony where the credibility of a witness is critical, you need an experienced New Jersey personal injury attorney on your side. The Clark Law Firm offers a complimentary consultation to assist you in exploring your options. Call 877-841-8855 today.
