Witnesses in car accident cases can be extremely helpful for victims; however, there are times when witnesses can actually harm cases. If your personal injury lawyer believes that one of your witnesses could harm your case, the lawyer will dissuade you from using that person as a witness in your case. This would typically happen only if one of the following two conditions applied to a particular witness.

The Testimony Will Disprove Your Testimony

If your lawyer is trying to prove that the other party in the accident is at fault, he or she will only use the evidence that backs this side of the story. If there is a witness that offers testimony that is not useful to your case or that will disprove your story, this would not be a good witness to use during your case.

Courts take witness testimony seriously. If this person gets on the stand and states facts that would harm your chances of winning, you may end up losing your case.

The Witness Lacks Credibility

While the first reason can occur in some cases, the more common reason a lawyer would not want to use a person as a witness is when the person lacks credibility. Credibility is something that is highly valuable in court, and it refers to whether a person is believable and trustworthy or not.

If you have a witness that says all the things you want to hear but that is not believable, this witness could offer more harm than good to your case. A lack of credibility would make jurors and the judge wonder if the person is really telling the truth or not. If they believe the person is lying or fabricating facts, they may develop a negative view of your case, and this would make it harder for you to win your case.

A person may lack credibility for any of the following reasons:

• The person keeps changing his or her story.
• He or she has a criminal history.
• The person does not have a job or is not a productive person in society.
• The details he or she offers does not add up or make sense.

There are a number of things that can affect a person's credibility, but you will not want to have any witnesses that are not considered credible.

Going through a car accident case can be time-consuming and difficult, but you will have the best chances of winning if you follow your lawyer's advice. For more information, contact Speers Reuland & Cibulskis, P.C. or a similar firm.