Photos Help Keep Dispute in Focus
A picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes even to lawyers, whose careers rise and fall by their effective use of words. A picture that convinces a jury that a witness was telling the truth is worth far more than the most eloquent closing statement.
Pictures can help save lots of time and resolve arguments, even in court. Here are some ideas about how you can use a camera to practice preventive law:
If your auto is rear-ended, take a picture. In fact, take several pictures of your car, showing the damage from different angles. If there is a dispute about the extent of the damage, the pictures can come in handy later. If you’re really good with a camera, you may want to shoot the site of the accident, focusing on the skid marks, which may help reconstruct how the accident happened.
After a fire or other calamity to your home or other property, take pictures of the damage. They might be useful when you file a claim with your fire insurance carrier.
In fact, you might use the camera long before the calamity to preclude any disagreement about the extent of your loss. Use the camera to make an inventory of your belongings. A video camera might work even better. Just stroll through the house, camera running, opening drawers and closets, to establish a record of your prized possessions. Store the videotape in a safe place, such as a safe deposit box. And then, when the insurance company questions whether your TV set was really top of the line, you’ll have a photo to back up your claim.
Using the camera for inventory purposes can also be effective in rental situations. Whether you are a landlord or a tenant, take a few pictures of the place you have just rented. They will show the condition of the premises at the time and can be compared with pictures taken when a lease expires. This might help resolve disputes about cleaning deposits or damaged property.
When you use a camera for legal purposes, keep a memo of the date you took the pictures. And save the negatives. To introduce and “authenticate” a photograph as evidence in court, you have to “lay a foundation,” a term lawyers use to describe testimony that shows the photo is a “faithful representation” of the objects or persons depicted. The photographer or anyone else who is familiar with the scene at the time the photo was taken may testify to lay the foundation.
Some legal commentators have referred to photos in court as “silent witnesses.” Photos may provide information that even the photographer didn’t notice, such as the commission of a crime in a crowd scene. After all, as one judge noted, the camera’s memory “is without question more accurate and reliable than that of a human witness.” Of course, the authenticity of a photograph can always be challenged, and expert witnesses may be needed to prove that the photo is genuine and has not been tampered with.
Other kinds of photographs also are used in court. Photocopies of documents can sometimes be used in place of the originals. That’s just one reason why you should always keep a copy of legal documents and other important records.
And X-rays are routinely used to show the extent of internal injuries. Even though what the picture shows cannot be seen by the human eye, X-rays may be introduced as evidence provided there is testimony that demonstrates the operator’s competence and the accuracy of a particular machine.
In any event, when you take pictures for legal purposes, try to keep everything in focus. You don’t want to lose your argument because of a blurry picture.
