At a deposition the defendant’s lawyer tries to figure out what the plaintiff’s claim is all about. In order to satisfy that purpose, a representative from the defense team must ask specific questions of the plaintiff. Those questions get posed during the deposition.
The defense team also studies the ability of the plaintiff to serve as a witness.
Besides seeking to determine the extent of the plaintiff’s knowledge, the defense team hopes to ascertain how well the plaintiff performs, when answering each posed question. A poor performance might diminish the apparent strength of the plaintiff’s case.
Inquiries that represent an effort to learn more about the background of the witness/plaintiff:
Any question about the witness’ education. Any question about the witness’ career/employment. Questions about the family of the plaintiff, or about the criminal record of that that same plaintiff/witness.
Inquiries about how a specific slip and fall case took place:
Ask the witness/plaintiff what sort of footwear he or she was wearing the time of that incident. Ask the same witness whether or not he or she was carrying anything at that time. Questions that seek detailed information: Were you looking down at that time? Did you spot the danger before you slipped? If so, how soon before you slipped? Where did you slip? With which foot did you slip? How did you land? Which body part hit the ground first?
Inquiries posed to witness, regarding his or her injuries
• What were your injuries? What were your symptoms?
• When did you begin to improve?
• When were you fully recovered?
• What activities, if any, can you no longer perform?
• How long were you out of work?
A final set of questions.
These would touch on the witness’ medical history. Did that history include mention of any past injuries? The defense Injury Lawyer in Richmond Hill hopes to suggest that the injuries suffered at the time of the fall demonstrated the effect of an earlier injury.
It does not pay to hide the existence of a past injury. Instead, it helps to focus on evidence of a full recovery from that past injury. Recall, the defense attorney may have asked whether or not the plaintiff/witness had recovered from the slip and fall incident? That question introduces a reason for emphasizing the extent of the recovery from a past injury.
Any piece of evidence that highlights the extent of the recovery from a past injury presents a challenge to the defense attorney. That mounting evidence makes it harder for him or her to suggest that an injury suffered at the time of the slip and fall incident reflected a re-emergence of an earlier problem. Legally, it becomes difficult to link the new injury to the old one.