Motor Vehicle Accident Cases

• Author: Leonard Bucklin
• Pages: 619-674

60-1 (Rev. 5, 7/09)

60. Motor Vehicle

Accident Cases

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 chapter a number of

question outline checklists for MVA deposi-

tions and trials. However, this chapter has

much more than deposition checklists to offer

for your office procedures and trial notebook.

We encourage you to browse the entire chapter

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 infor-

mation about the events, the persons involved,

and basic contact information. There are sev-

eral 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 information on what

you need than does the general intake

or “One-Sheet Summary” you other-

wise use in your office.

Once this form is started, the specialized

MVA intake and summary form replaces — for

MVA cases — the general “One-Sheet Sum-

mary” you otherwise use in your office.

Give your office staff the following instruc-

tions.

§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 con-

tact 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)

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 #.

§60.2 BUILDING TRIAL NOTEBOOKS 60-2

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 copy the form from the book's

CD, 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.

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) 

___________________________________________________

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

60-3 MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT CASES §60.2

(Rev. 4, 8/08)

Driver

Passenger

Our Vehicle

Another Vehicle

Name, Address,

Phone #

(Check this box if continued on another sheet) 