Motor Vehicle Accident Cases

• Author: Leonard Bucklin
• Pages: 547-579

60-1

Chapter 60

Motor Vehicle Accident Cases

§60.1 Specialized Intake and Summary Form in MVA Cases

§60.2 Form: MVA, One-Sheet Plus One Page, Summary

§60.3 Use Take-Home Instructions to MVA Plaintiff Client

§60.4 Form: Take-Home Instructions to MVA Plaintiff Client

§60.5 Form Checklist: Deposing the Driver in an Auto Accident

§60.6 Request That the Adverse Driver or MVA Witness Bring Items to Deposition

§60.7 Form: Notice to Bring Items to Deposition — Motor Vehicle Accident

§60.8 Interviewing and Deposing the Police Investigating Officer in a Motor Vehicle Accident

§60.9 Form Checklist: Deposition/Interview/Trial — MVA — Police Investigating Officer

§60.10 Form Checklist: Deposition/Interview/Trial Direct Testimony — MVA — Scene Witness Not in Involved Vehicles

§60.11 Using a Checklist to Establish (or Deny) Company Control of Driver

§60.12 Form: Deposition Checklist - Truck Driver Under Control of Defendant Company

§60.13 Deposing the Employer of the Driver of the Adverse Motor Vehicle

§60.14 Form: Notice of Plaintiff’s Deposition of Company Controlling Driver

§60.15 The Danger of Losing Potential Evidence in Truck Accident Cases

§60.16 Form: Initial Spoliation Letter in Truck Accident Case

§60.17 Taking Photographs of MVA Scene and Vehicles

§60.18 Form: Short Checklist — Photo Assignment — Motor Vehicle Accident

§60.19 Motor Vehicles — Black Box — EDR

§60.20 If the Car Has an EDR, What’s in the EDR?

§60.21 Recoverability and Usability of EDR Data

§60.22 Truck Engines — Black Boxes Are More Than EDR

§60.23 Don’t Be Accused of Malpractice or Spoliation of the EDR/ECM

§60.24 Low Impact Back Cases: Car Damage Evidence

§60.1 DISCOVERY COLLECTION 60-2

Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) cases are common in the offices

of most litigators. MVA cases are particularly amenable to the use of

deposition and trial question outline checklists. We do include in this

section a number of question outline checklists for MVA depositions

and trials. However, this section has much more than deposition

checklists to offer for your office procedures and trial notebook. We

encourage you to browse the entire section and online for additional

forms, tips, and techniques to power your MVA litigation.

§60.1 Specialized Intake and Summary

Form in MVA Cases

You already know the advantages of having a one-page basic

summary of the case in the front of your trial notebook. You, your

staff, and other attorneys in the office, all refer to it, time and time

again in the case, for basic information about the events, the persons

involved, and basic contact information. There are several reasons

why in MVA cases, you should have a specialized initial intake form

which is also the summary sheet.

• If the client is an individual, or is the contact person for

a business entity, a combined intake and summary form is

something you can give the client to fill out while he/she is

in the waiting room. It saves you time. There is little sense

in you acting as a mere scrivener of basic information, when

it is more efficient to have the client fill out the form.

• A summary form you can start at the first intake phone call

or conference, and then complete as information comes in

during the course of the case, is a time saver in getting the

summary sheet completed.

• Because the form is specialized for MVA cases, the form tells

you, by the unfilled blanks, the information you do not yet

have, but which information is basic to handling of the case.

• The form is the central point to which all support staff and

attorneys can each contribute information they gather. It’s

a time saver, because others do not waste time gathering

information someone else has already gathered.

• The form self-organizes information, so you don’t waste

time organizing scraps of information.

• A form specialized for MVA cases gives you more infor-

mation on what you need than does the general intake or

“One-Sheet Summary” you otherwise use in your office.

Once this form is started, the specialized MVA intake and sum-

mary form replaces — for MVA cases — the general “One-Sheet

Summary” you otherwise use in your office.

Give your office staff the following instructions.

Instructions to Staff Regarding the MVA, One-Sheet Plus One Page, Summary

1. Print the MVA, One-Sheet Plus One Page, Summary as two pages on one sheet (back and front) plus

one more page. (That’s why we call it the “MVA, One-Sheet Plus One Page, Summary.”)

This form was originally designed to fit on three pages, with equal margins of 0.7 inches on all

sides. Because the formatting of your word processor may vary from that of the publisher of the

book Building Trial Notebooks, after you download the form from Jamesforms.com, you may have

to adjust margins to make the page lengths come out correctly for your office.

2. Give the client the Page 1 and the Page 2 of this form for them to fill out for us, if they are waiting

in the office to meet with the intake attorney.

But the Page 3 is NOT meant to be filled out by the Client, only by us in the office.

3. Put the “MVA, One-Sheet Plus One Page, Summary” behind the Summary tab in the trial notebook

for this case.

§60.2 Form: MVA, One-Sheet Plus One Page, Summary

Motor Vehicle Accident Summary Page 1 – Client May Enter Information Known by Client

CLIENT - Name and Address (If client is a company, add name and title of Contact Person.)

Phones: Home Cell Work

Occupation and Employer:

(If client is an individual, add here: the name, phone, and relationship of closest family member we can contact if client is unavailable.)

CLIENT’S INSURER - Name of Company, Policy #, and Claim File #

Coverages : B.I. P.D. UM/UIM

Med. Pay: Comprehensive Collision

OUR VEHICLE - Make Model Year

Serial No. Mileage License No. & State

Where May Auto Be Seen (Address)

OUR VEHICLE’S OWNER - Name, Address, and Phone

OUR VEHICLE’S DRIVER - Name, Address, Phone, and Age

ADVERSE VEHICLE - Make Model Year

Serial No. Mileage License No. & State

Where May Auto Be Seen (Address)

60-3 MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT CASES §60.2

ADVERSE VEHICLE’S OWNER - Name, Address, and Phone

ADVERSE VEHICLE’S DRIVER - Name, Address, Phone, and Age

HIS/HER INSURER - Name of Company, Policy #, and Claim File #.

Motor Vehicle Accident - Summary Page 2 – Client May Enter Information Known by Client

POLICE - Investigators (Name, plus name of Police Organization, Phone ##)

Police Charges, Court Involved, and Outcome of Charges

THE ACCIDENT - Date & Time

Location

CLIENT’S Auto on What Street Direction Headed

ADVERSE Auto on What Street Direction Headed

WEATHER Visibility / Road Condition

Summary of What Happened

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AT SCENE - Positions Before Being Moved After Accident of Our Vehicle and ADVERSE Vehicle - Other

Physical Evidence at Scene (e.g., Measurements, Brake and Skid Marks, Debris)

(Check this box if continued on another sheet) q

___________________________________________________

PERSONS INVOLVED (Checkmark to indicate Which Vehicle and if Driver or Passenger.)

MVA - Summary Page 3 - OFFICE STAFF TO ENTER INFORMATION

MAJOR INJURIES OF INVOLVED PERSONS - What Injuries to What Persons?

Include Hospitals and Major Doctors Used by Each Person

(Check this box if continued on another sheet) q

OTHER OCCURRENCE WITNESSES - Name, Company, Address, Phone and Other Contact Information. PLUS indicate nature of

knowledge, e.g., bystander, was in passing vehicle, tow truck operator, et cetera.

(Check this box if continued on another sheet) q

Driver

Passenger

Our Vehicle

Another Vehicle

Name, Address,

Phone #

(Check this box if continued on another sheet) q