Often times when I meet clients in my office for a motor vehicle accident case they are confused about what items they need to bring with them. So I figured I might as well blog about it to alleviate any confusion. The essential items are a copy of the police accident report, a copy of your declaration page on your insurance policy, and your driver's license. Other documents would be a copy of the discharge papers if you went to the hospital, and your health insurance card, along with a property damage estimate and photos of your vehicle. These are all very important items which are necessary early on in the case.
Recently, I was in the process of settling a case which occurred in Newark, New Jersey. However, I was missing a copy of the declaration page of my client's insurance policy. So when the adjuster was trying to settle the case I had to verify if there was any personal injury protection on the policy, especially since it was an out of state insurance policy. My client was a resident of a different state and then moved to New Jersey. It made it very difficult to settle the matter without the policy information, and I had to scramble at the last minute to get the information, locate the insurance carrier and verify coverage. Without essential information like this early on in the case the settlement will be delayed and my clients do not receive their money in a timely fashion.
Moral of the story is: Always ask your attorney what items you need to bring with you for your initial intake and actually bring them with you or provide them as soon as possible.