The Most Often Asked Questions About the Book,
and Our Responses

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

1) I have specialized in personal injury investigations for decades, how will this book help me?
The investigations of personal injury accidents is so complex it is impossible to remember every nuance of over one hundred different types of accident investigations. This book is a tremendous reference source.
2) I specialize in other investigative areas and rarely take an accident case, how will this book help me?
Not only will this book guide you, step-by-step, through numerous types of investigations you may not be familiar with, it can add a totally new demension to your business. Some investigators who never before took personal injury cases have used this book to add a whole new division to their companies.
3) I specialize in other investigative areas and don't take personal injury cases, how will this book help me?
Even specialists in non-accident cases are sometimes asked to take an accident case, often by a business or personal associate who is familiar with the investigators work. This manual will allow you to take those cases, and do an excellent job with them, rather than refer them onto another investigator.
4) I am just starting out as an investigator and have many expenses, therefore I must be careful where I spend my money. I need to get the most bang for my buck that I can. Why do I want to spend my money on this book?
This book's comprehensive checklists will help guide your investigations, and its additional pages of tear-out forms and formats will save you enormous amounts of time and money in developing the documents that are necessary for a competent and successful personal injury investigation.
5) I have a staff of very competent personal injury investigators working for me. How will this book help me?
There are three ways of doing an investigation: The wrong way, the right way, and your way. Not only will the proper use of this book make certain that all of the investigations are thoroughly completed, and done so correctly, but it will standardize the methodology among your entire staff of investigators, insuring that they are all doing their investigations the way you want them done.
6) I specialize in personal injury defense, how would this book help me?
This book will point up both the weaknesses in the defense of the accident, and the weaknesses and strengths in the plaintiff's case. Additionally, it will guide you into the specific areas that the plaintiff's investigator will be looking into. The best defense is knowledge of the offense.
7) I specialize in criminal investigations, how will this book help me?
When a person is charged with one of the various degrees of homicide, such as manslaughter, that person retains a criminal attorney, who retains a criminal investigator. However, if the defendant claims that the death was not a crime, but an accident, rarely do criminal defense attorneys or their investigators have the knowledge to determine if the incident truly was an accident. This book explains the dynamics of accidents, allowing criminal investigators to determine if what the defendant is claiming is actually possible.
8) When I take an accident case, the attorney tells me what type of case it is, and what to specifically look for. How will this book help me?
By exposing the investigator to the nuances of accident investigations, the investigator is then able to recognize multiple causes of action with possible additional defendants, some of whom may have been unknown. This ability cannot only help the attorney avoid the "empty chair defense" but may also increase the monetary value of the case.
9) What are the primary benefits of this book to the investigator?
A. It is the most comprehensive single-book personal injury accident investigation resource ever written.
B. Its forty-eight tear-out pages provide numerous investigative checklists, plus the forms and formats that prevent the investigator from "reinventing the wheel".
C. It is a step-by-step guide of how to investigate over one hundred different types of personal injury accidents and incidents.
D. It explains what photographs are needed, and how to take, identify, mount and present them.
E. It examines the techniques for interviewing not only friendly witnesses, but hostile witnesses and defendants as well. It discusses just who can and cannot be interviewed, and why.
F. Not only does this book delve into the pros and cons of written statements verses recorded statements, it fully explains how to do both types. In addition to the mechanics of doing each, it details those things the investigator must either do or avoid doing while obtaining witness statements.
G. How to take forensic videotapes is thoroughly examined.
H. Both file management and case management are completely examined.
I. It provides continuity and standardization to all of the investigations performed.
J. The proper way to write a report is detailed, specifically discussing those things that must be in it, and those things that should not be in, and why.
K. Billing procedures are thoroughly discussed.