Have you recently joined the world of wearable smart devices? Love your Apple Watch, Samsung Gear Sport, Huawei Watch 2, Garmin Forerunner, or other wearable smart device? Wearable smart devices can do a lot of things. Not surprisingly, they are more popular than ever. You may not realize it, but by using a smart device, you may be taking a step to help your personal injury claim.
Whether you use a smart device before an accident or after an accident, you may unknowingly be gathering evidence of your injury claim. Smart devices can collect information that can help you and your Las Vegas personal injury attorney prove the truth in an injury accident, whether you use it before the accident, after the accident, or both.
How can a smart, portable device help your personal injury claim?
A smart, portable device can help your personal injury claim by automatically saving vital information that can be critical to your case. Your smart device can keep information about your location, sleep, physical activities, and more. This information can prove relevant facts that are important to your injury claim.
What Kinds of Information Does a Smart Portable Device Collect That May Be Useful for a Personal Injury Accident Claim?
A smart, wearable device can help you in a number of ways if you are in a personal injury accident. The most important information depends on the circumstances of the case and the issues in dispute. For example, a wearable smart device can show that you were at the scene of the accident at the time and place you said you were. Depending on the characteristics of your device, it may even display the speed at which your vehicle was traveling at the time of the accident.
Smart devices can track a large amount of personal information. For example, some devices can indicate when you are sleeping and when you are awake. Some smart devices monitor your physical activity and your heart rate. All of this personal health information can be helpful in showing how your life has changed because of the accident. For example, if you have trouble sleeping due to mental injury and accident anxiety, your wearable device can help show that your sleeping habits have changed. If you are unable to be physically active since the accident, your smart, wearable device can show that you are no longer as active as you used to be.
How can smart and wearable devices provide useful evidence in a personal injury case?
A smart, wearable device can provide evidence that humans cannot. You can use data to tell the story. There are many ways your smart device can provide useful evidence. You can be at fault in the case, or you can establish the severity of your damages. When the other party tries to cast doubt on your theory of the case, your smart device can disprove your claims and prove that what you say is true.
Admissibility issues with electronically stored information
If you have data from your smart and wearable device that may be helpful in the case, the next step is to determine how to admit the data at trial. The courts have rules of procedure and evidence . These rules set the framework for the evidence the court can receive at trial and what it must do to admit the evidence at trial. Because electronically stored information is still a relatively new concept in personal injury litigation, there are differing opinions about how to admit evidence at trial. The judges may even disagree on what you need to do to admit evidence of your smart device.
One view is that electronically stored information is inherently reliable. You can admit electronic information only with your testimony that you are submitting data from the device you own. On the other hand, a judge may require you to bring in an expert witness who can explain to the jury how the technology works and verify that the information you are presenting is information that the device recorded. Other judges may want you to provide certification from a record custodian that the records are an accurate recording of the device.
It is important to find out how to admit the evidence before trial. You may need to file a preliminary motion for clarification to ask the court how you can present the evidence at trial. Your attorney can help you take the right steps to evaluate the electronic evidence in your case and present it at trial.
Questions and difficulties with the evidence of wearable smart devices
Even though electronically stored information can be of great help in a personal injury accident, there are still some challenges associated with smart device data. For example, you need to prove that you were the one wearing the device at the time you were recording. There are a few ways to manipulate the data that a smart device records, and you need to be ready to demonstrate the accuracy of the information you want to present.
Also, there can be key differences between device types. Accuracy in GPS, blocked signals, and sensor errors can pose problems with evidence from wearable and smart devices. Your attorney can help you evaluate your case and take steps to present the electronically stored information effectively in your case.