Remember, you have to prove every part of your claim, including your harms and losses which may be:
- money you spent relating to your claim;
- your injuries and your treatment;
- your recovery efforts;
- how your injuries affect your life;
- your wage loss, past and future; and
- your cost of future treatment and care.
This article explains how, what, and when you should document on your own.
Throughout this book I make suggestions about documenting your case. Every auto injury claim from the time of the crash has the potential to end up in a trial. Once your claim is filed with the court it is considered litigation.
From the moment of your crash, everything you do to prove your claim must be with the mindset that you will have to prove your claim in court. I repeat, from the time of your crash, everything you do in proving your claim is with your intention that you will be litigating your claim. This is even before you hire a lawyer. The whole point of documenting your claim is to ultimately prove your claim in court.
At the top of the first page of your set of notes or entries you should write the following:
I was in a car crash on [DATE]. I am or intend to make a claim for my harms and losses stemming from that car crash, and I intend to prove my claim in court. I will be making entries and notes documenting my claim. All entries and notes made by me or by my agent on my behalf on this date and afterward are made in contemplation of all litigation stemming from that car crash.
Your signature
Date Your printed name
Date this heading and sign underneath as shown. If you keep your records on the computer, apply an electronic signature or type in your name and then type “electronically signed”.
Date all future entries and notes you make to show they were made after you intended or contemplated litigation.
The reason for this is that if you make notes before contemplating a lawsuit, your notes may have to be given to the lawyer hired by ICBC or another insurer. It’s possible at some point you will hand over your notes to support your claim anyway. However, you want the choice – not the obligation to do so.
What should you document?
1. Your out-of-pocket expenses
Keep every receipt for purchases even remotely connected to your claim. ICBC requires original receipts for reimbursement. Courts prefer, if at all possible, original documents including original receipts. All you have to do is throw all your receipts in an envelope. You or your lawyer can organize them later. If you are good at being organized, then by all means organize your documents right away.
If you lose a receipt, then note down what you bought, where you bought it, the price paid, and when you bought it. Most likely you or your lawyer can get another receipt.
2. Your injuries
You want to focus on recovery but at the same time you want to let ICBC and the court know about your injuries and how those injuries affected your life.
Injury claims can take a long time (sometimes up to several years) to resolve. Chances are that after a couple of years, you won’t remember the details of how your injuries affected you in the early days after your auto crash.
The good way to prove your injuries’ impact is through notes you make as soon as you’re able to do so.
Again, you should focus on recovery; you should not dwell on your injuries. However, it is a good idea to make notes on a weekly or monthly basis about how your injuries are affecting your life. These notes need not be extensive; just enough for you to recall what you went through. There are two aspects to noting down how your injuries affected you:
A. List your injuries and your symptoms: start from you head and go down to your toes. Consider medication effects. Ask yourself these questions:
1. What hurts?
2. Describe the pain. Consider the following descriptors:
i. radiating pain;
ii. needle like pain;
iii. sharp pain;
iv. dull, ongoing pain;
v. numbness;
vi. shooting pain;
vii. tingling; and/or
viii. burning sensation.
3. What movement(s) or activities, if any, causes pain?
4. How long does the pain last (minutes, hours, days, etc.)?
5. How often does a particular pain occur (all the time, daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)?
6. Do you have any emotional and psychological pain such as headaches, sleep difficulty, anxiety, depression, irritability, mood swings, etc.
7. Head injury: If you hit your head, no matter how slight, or your head whipped back and forth, then you MUST tell your doctor. There are many symptoms and questions to consider. Head injury issues alone require an entire book. Some good preliminary resources to check out for further investigation are as follows:
i. Brain Injury Association of Canada: www.biac-aclc.ca/
ii. Brain Injury Association of America: www.biausa.org/
iii. British Columbia Brain Injury Association: www.bcbraininjuryassociation.com/index.php
iv. Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Centre: www.braininjuryresources.org/
B. Next, think about what parts of your life are affected? Consider:
1. Work and/or school – consider whether you can’t work or study at all; or only for shorter durations; or you can work or study, but do so through pain.
2. Recreational/leisure activities – consider socializing, clubs, sports, hobbies, fitness, vacations (cancelled, shortened, or not as enjoyable), reading, watching movies, etc.
3. Work in and around your home/yard – what can’t you do in and around your home? Consider errands, shopping, finances, laundry, vacuuming, cleaning, dishes, annual projects, repairs, maintenance, car repairs, etc.
4. Daily activities – consider hygiene limitations, walking, sitting, bending, twisting, reaching, moving your head, driving, using the computer, etc.
5. Your relationships: it’s likely that your relationships with family, friends, and co-workers are affected by what you’re going through. Consider and ask these people how your relationships are affected.
3. Treatment notes for self-directed programs
Your medical doctors, physiotherapist, chiropractor, psychologist (or therapist), and/or massage therapist will make notes including the dates of your visits. You do not need to keep track of these treatment efforts because they will make and keep notes in their files.
However, your treatment may include home exercises, pool therapy, exercises at a fitness facility (with or without a personal trainer), yoga, Pilates, or some other self-directed program. Do self-directed exercises under your doctor’s guidance. You should note down your self-directed efforts. At the very least, keep track of the following:
1. The dates you performed exercises or attended classes;
2. Types of exercises you did (if following a set of exercises given to you, just indicate you did your prescribed exercises. Keep the sheet setting out your exercises); and
3. The location of your classes/pool/fitness facility. If you attend an on-sight facility such as a fitness facility, yoga studio, or pool, ask if they can generate a printout in the future listing your visits. This printout is good enough documentation of your efforts. If not, then you can make brief notes when and where you went.
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