After something terrible happens, your first thought may be to throw everything away. You don’t want anything else to do with that product or that company. You don’t want to be reminded about what happened every time you stumble across the wrong email or screenshot you took on your phone. A Case for Women is here to tell you that saving any and all documentation can be the difference between having a case or not. Hang on to every scrap of evidence, as much as you’d like to turn over the etch-a-sketch + shake vigorously.
We know trauma is a black hole, but psychologists hold the view that one of the ways you can most completely reset your nervous system is to pursue legal action and seek justice against the corporate wrongdoers that neglected to keep you safe.1 Here’s the thing: the outcome of your lawsuit is tremendously enhanced by your law firm’s ability to help prove that what you describe happened, is exactly what happened in a court of law.
KEEP EVERYTHING: receipts from Uber rides or doctors’ visits, hospital records, emails, text messages, Roblox chats, voicemails, a piece of paper you may have dropped in your oversized Burka. Here, it is like TV – the tiniest clue may tip the balance.
Why Should I Keep Everything?
To help build an airtight case against those responsible for allowing harm to befall you. Example: generally all medical records are destroyed by hospitals and doctors’ offices after seven years – so if the statute of limitations in your particular case allows you to take legal action for longer than seven years after you were hurt .. well, your case may not be successful if those records have been destroyed. Just remember: you are always your own best advocate.
What Do You Mean Companies Don’t Keep Records Forever?
Yep, it’s true. Typically, because of things like limited server space or old-fashioned file cabinet space, any documentation (chats, emails, receipts – all the way to medical records) may be destroyed after a given period of time. And it’s not just medical records, although these are usually super important for a case – we are talking EVERYTHING.
What Type of Documentation Should I Keep?
Short answer: Anything associated with what happened to you or your family member that backs up your story. Some quick examples:
- Emails
- Texts
- Screenshots
- Chat logs
- Medical records of important procedures
- Receipt from a creepy Uber ride
- Roblox account/ username info
How Can This Help With a Lawsuit?
Documentation is everything and can literally make or break your case. For starters, it can be the difference between lawyers rejecting or accepting you as a client in the first place. Remember, contingency lawyers risk their own valuable time and resources (all expenses included) to build and handle your case + they don’t get paid unless you achieve success. Not to mention increasing the odds of a successful outcome. Lawyers need evidence to back up your story, and this documentation is that evidence. Maybe bring out your inner Elle Woods here:
“Don’t you also need to have evidence… meaning you need reasonable belief that your claim would have, like, evidentiary support? ”
Why Should You Let A Case for Women Help You Advocate?
We want your derailment to be temporary, not lifelong, which is only possible if you can heal and move on. And though we try our hardest to educate you, the law is complicated (which is why many law students fail the bar exam at least once before they pass it!). It’s our mission to help educate women about the legal process. This is a perfect example. Keeping records/ evidence of anything that happened to you is so key. We are hand holders, legal whisperers, straight talkers, fierce strategists with authentic compassion. We do what we do because we care about helping you change the world. Please contact us, 24/7/365.
Sources
1 Jeffrey Jay, PhD, “Menders and Justice: Trauma and belief in a just world,” Psychology Today, January 20, 2023.
2 Jeffrey Jay PhD, “Menders and Justice.”
