Preparing for your Personal Injury Claim or Lawsuit

What experts rely on

In order to fill in the financial holes suffered after a personal injury, experts rely on information from the most reliable documents available, as well as outside research to determine the degree, duration and extent of economic losses.

Depending on the nature of your personal injury and specific type of employment, different documents will be needed.  Ideally, we like to have five years of records before the incident through the present.  The following is a list of common documents needed by experts to calculate the economic loss as a result of personal injury:

The List

1. W-2 Wage and Tax Statements and/or Schedule C (Form 1040) Profit or Loss from Business or S. Corporate Income Tax Form (Form 1120) – for the five years before the incident through the most recently available.
2. Profit and Loss Statements including detailed income and expenses – in place of tax documents listed above if not available and/or to provide the most recent data that is not yet prepared in the form of tax statements. It is important that expenses are as detailed as much as possible in order to differentiate between recoverable and non-recoverable expenses.
3. Paycheck Statements – for five years before the incident through the present which show any reduction in work, absences, and retirement/health contributions or match.
4. Employment Records/Personnel File – from both your employer at the time of incident and any other employers through the present.
5. Memorandum of Understanding– from five years before the date of incident through the present, if your employment is or was with a government agency.
6. Union Contracts and Employee Union Records from your Local, Union Health and Welfare Plans and Union Pension Plans – from five years before the date of incident through the present, if you are in a union.
7. Retirement Benefit documents – including 401k contribution, annual statements, quarterly statements and summary plan descriptions. If you retired after the incident, please provide 1099R forms, correspondence from the pension plan including how you pension was calculated, and monthly payments from your pension.
8. Heath Insurance documents – including both you and your employer’s contribution, any COBRA documents or replacement health insurance if the incident caused you to lose coverage. Please include any vision and dental insurance information too.
9. Other Fringe Benefits from your employer – such as employer provided automobile, life insurance, gym memberships, stock options, employee stock purchase plans, profit sharing plans, employees’ savings plans, and deferred compensation.
10. Your Resume – to give us an understanding of your career and employment history.
11. Your Date of Birth, Educational Attainment, and the Date of Incident.
12. Date of Birth and Educational Attainment of your Spouse and Dates of Birth of Dependents (children) – and whether they are or were covered under your health insurance.
13. Non-reimbursed business expenses – such as classroom supplies if you are a teacher.