Auto Accident Deposition Victim Questions

Most of the lawyers in our office were defense lawyers who represented big companies and insurance companies against victims. We have done a complete 180 degree turn: our law firm ONLY represents personal injury victims.

The point is that we have some old deposition outlines that we used back in the old day. Sprinkled in this is some information for victims about these questions.

• Plaintiff (car accident)
• Plaintiff (truck accident)

Personal Background

1. Name, address, telephone number, date of birth
2. Your residences for the past 10 years or so.
3. Your educational background: schools and degrees, and education and training you have received since you left school.
4. Your family background: marital status number of children, and living situation (who lives with you now and who lived with you at the time of your accident).
5. Your health and medical background. Ability to answer questoins.
6. Employment background: your last several jobs your current job (duties, physical requirements, hours, pay, supervisor, co-workers), and whether you have missed time from work during the last five years (or so)? If so, how much and why?
7. Criminal background: have you ever been convicted of a crime? We prepare our clients for this question and make sure we know how to address it if it does arise.
8. Injury/civil claims background: Have you ever filed any lawsuits? Have you ever made any other kinds of claims, such as workers compensation claims? Are you biased towards one party or another?

How the Accident Happened

1. Time, date, day of week, and location of accident.
2. Where were you coming from and where were you headed?
3. What were the weather conditions?
4. What were the traffic conditions?
5. Were there any traffic control devices, such as traffic lights, stop signs, other signs, lane markings, etc. involved?
6. Exactly what each driver did and when. Be prepared for specific questions about times and distances. For example:
   

   How far was the other car from you when you first saw it?
   Where was the other car on the roadway at the time?
   How fast were you going?
   How fast was the other car going?
   Where on the roadway did the cars collide?
   What areas of the vehicles collided (i.e. driver’s side fender, passenger side door)?
   Where did the cars come to rest?

7. Did you speak to anyone at the scene after the accident happened and, if so, what did each of you say? Did anyone admit responsibility for causing the accident?
8. What happened to your body inside the vehicle when the collision occurred? Did any part of your body hit any part of the car?
9. What happened to your car after it was hit?
10. What physical damage did each car have? Was your car repaired? How much did the repairs cost?
11. Who were the witnesses to the accident? Who came to the accident scene within two hours after the accident?
12. Do you have any photos or diagrams that show the accident scene?
13. Did you drink any alcohol during the 24 hours before the accident?
14. Did you fill out any report or witness statement of the accident?

• Proving fault in car accident claims (but don’t feel like you have to carry too much water in your deposition).
• Look at a sample deposition of a defendant in a wrongful death pedestrian accident case

Injuries and Treatment

1. What injuries do you claim were caused by this accident?
2. Did you have any health conditions before the accident that you contend were aggravated by the accident?
3. What doctors and other health care providers have you seen for treatment of your injuries?
4. What symptoms did you have at the scene of the accident? Did you get out of your car and walk around at the scene?
5. When did you first get medical care? What did you tell the doctor were your symptoms at that first visit?
6. What were your symptoms over time? Did your symptoms any get better? Which ones and when?
7. If there were any gaps in your medical care why did you not get treatment? Gaps are a big deal that need to be adequately explained even in serious, objective injury cases.
8. What symptoms, if any, do you still have that you attribute to this accident?
9. How much have you incurred in medical bills so far?
10. Have you missed any time from work as a result of this accident? How much? When? What amount of lost income are you claiming?
11. Do you claim that you will miss work or lose income in the future as a result of this accident? If so, explain.
12. How have your injuries affected your day-to-day activities? What are the things that you cannot do at all as a result of your injuries? What are the things that you cannot do as well (or as often or for as long) as usual as a result of your injuries?
13. How has your injury affected your personal relationships, i.e. your marriage? Loss or reduction of sex? Loss of enjoyment of other activities together? Loss of vacations? Loss of other opportunities?

More Information

• More examples of depositions in different types of personal injury cases
• Learn about bringing car accident claims in Maryland
• MVA injury cases frequently asked questions
• How to get your client ready for her deposition