A deposition takes place during the discovery session, a time for the sharing of evidence. A witness gets deposed when he or she must answer the questions that have been posed by a given personal injury lawyer in Bedford.
Rights of parties that take part in deposition
Each of them has a chance to review the transcripts from the question-and-answer sessions. Each of them has a right to look for errors in that same transcript. The parties receive an evaluation form from their personal attorney. In addition, the same parties receive information about any future depositions or future collections of evidence.
Rights enjoyed by insurance company, following deposition
Has the right to request that the claimant/victim appear at a scheduled Independent Medical Exam (IME).
–The victim’s lawyer has the right to ensure that the client/victim knows which doctor will conduct the examination.
–By the same token, the lawyer’s rights extend to that knowing what the doctor will examine and how the client/victim should prepare for that scheduled exam. The insurance has the option of introducing a settlement offer, following the deposition.
–If the shared evidence has highlighted the strength of the claimant’s case, then the insurance would probably feel eager to settle. Creation of a settlement would free the insurance company of worries about how the jury might rule, at the conclusion of a courtroom trial.
–Understand that an offer to settle from the insurance company would not have to be accepted by the claimant-lawyer team. Lawyers caution their clients against settling until after any injured party has reached the state of Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI).
How would an accident victim know whether or not he or she had reached the point of MMI?
The treating physician should make them aware of that fact. Yet not all victims understand how to learn about the attainment of MMI. The insurance industry is aware of that fact, and could hope that some of the victims might view the results from the IME as confirmation of their complete recovery.
Naturally, if a claimant/victim were of the opinion that he or she had fully recovered, then he or she might feel inclined to settle. That fact helps to underscore the reason that insurance companies have sought permission for scheduling an IME following the deposition.
Insurers do not automatically schedule an IME for whatever claimant has taken part in a deposition. Claimants that have come forward with weak evidence during the discovery session might not hear anything about a possible settlement. Why would that be the case? That would be true, because the insurer would hope that the claimant turned plaintiff might fail to impress the jury and, thus, lose the case.