The Role of Expert Witnesses in Ohio Car Accident Cases

When someone is seriously injured in an Ohio car crash, proving what happened—and proving the full extent of the harm—can require much more than photographs, medical records, and witness testimony. In cases involving disputed liability, significant injuries, future medical needs, or substantial financial losses, expert witnesses often can and do play a critical role.

At Kitrick, Lewis & Staley-Sladek Co., L.P.A., we have handled serious injury cases for decades. We understand that selecting the right expert is only the beginning. An expert must be qualified, credible, thoroughly prepared, and able to explain complicated subjects in language that a judge and jury can understand.

In fact, our experience with expert witnesses extends beyond the courtroom. Mark Kitrick is a co-author of a 2024 book for plaintiff lawyers specifically devoted to the effective selection, preparation, and use of expert witnesses by trial lawyers. It is the first of its kind ever written for plaintiff lawyers and is now nationally sold. It is called EXPERTS: Picking, Preparing, Perfecting. It reflects an important principle we apply to our cases: an expert should not simply have impressive credentials. The expert must be able to teach, explain, and persuade while remaining objective and credible.

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What Is an Expert Witness?

A fact witness generally testifies about something the person personally saw, heard, did, or experienced. That is different from an expert witness who can or does offer specialized opinions based upon the expert’s knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education.

Experts are used when an issue involves information beyond the knowledge or experience of the average person or juror. Depending upon the case, an expert may analyze physical evidence, medical records, vehicle data, photographs, measurements, scientific literature, testing, financial information, or other evidence before reaching an opinion.

The best experts do more than announce conclusions. They show and teach insurance companies, Judges and juries how and why they reached those conclusions.

This is especially important because the defense usually will retain its own experts to fight fault, causation, the seriousness of an injury, the need for future medical treatment, or the amount of a plaintiff’s financial losses. The jury may therefore be asked to decide not simply which expert has the better résumé, but which expert’s reasoning is more reliable, understandable, and believable.

What Kinds of Experts Are Used in Ohio Car Accident Cases?

The experts needed depend upon the particular facts and injuries involved. While this is not intended to be an inclusive or exhaustive list, it may include:

Accident reconstruction experts. These experts use physical evidence, vehicle damage, roadway evidence, photographs, measurements, electronic data (EDR), physics, and other information to reconstruct how a collision occurred. They may address vehicle speed, direction of travel, braking, impact forces, and the sequence of events leading to a crash.

Medical experts. Physicians and other qualified healthcare professionals explain the nature and cause of injuries, treatment, prognosis, permanent limitations, future medical care, and whether an injury was caused or aggravated by the collision.

Biomechanical experts. In appropriate cases, biomechanical experts analyze the forces generated during a collision and how those forces interacted with the human body. Their opinions must be carefully examined to ensure that they remain within the expert’s actual field of expertise.

Automotive and mechanical experts. When a crash involves an alleged vehicle defect, component failure, improper repair, or inadequate maintenance, automotive engineering or mechanical experts may be necessary.

Human-factors and visibility experts. These experts address perception and reaction time, nighttime visibility, reaction time, conspicuity, driver behavior, distraction, and whether a person reasonably could have perceived and reacted to a hazard.

Life-care planners. When injuries are permanent or catastrophic, a life-care planner will identify the medical treatment, rehabilitation, equipment, assistance, and other care that an injured person is reasonably expected to need in the future.

Vocational experts. A vocational rehabilitation expert evaluates how permanent injuries affect a person’s ability to work, return to a former occupation, obtain other employment, or compete in the labor market.

Economists. Economic experts calculate lost earning capacity and ascertain the present value of future economic losses and expenses.

Can an Expert Witness Strengthen an Injury Case?

An expert certainly can help answer some of the most important questions in a serious automobile injury case:

What actually happened?

An accident reconstructionist will help establish how and why the collision occurred. If there is no video and people say completely different things as to how a collision happened, an expert may be needed right away.

What injuries did the crash cause?

Medical and other appropriate experts must establish the direct connection between the collision and a plaintiff’s injuries. This is required per Ohio law.

What will the injured person’s future be?

Treating physicians, medical specialists, vocational experts, and life-care planners help explain if an injury is permanent and what are the impairments, what will the future treatment entail, what our the client’s employment limitations, and what are the client’s long-term care needs.

What will all the losses add up to?

Economists and other financial experts must calculate future economic losses and then reduce those estimated or appropriate future losses to what is called “present value.” This must be done by experts most of the time.

What is One of the Expert’s Most Important Jobs? It is to Teach the Jury

After decades of trying cases and working with experts, one principle is particularly important: an expert witness must be a good communicator, a great teacher. The expert’s responsibility is to take a complicated subject and make it understandable and memorable without sacrificing accuracy.

This principle is also emphasized in the book on expert witnesses co-authored by Mark Kitrick for plaintiff trial lawyers. Effective expert testimony requires more than technical knowledge. It requires preparation, credibility, communication, and the ability to explain why the expert’s opinion makes sense based upon the evidence.

Does Every Car Accident Case Need an Expert?

Experts are extremely valuable, but they are not necessary in every Ohio car accident case. If fault is straightforward or obvious or not in dispute and if the injuries are uncomplicated, the treating medical providers alone can adequately explain the medical issues. That means having to retain additional experts may not be necessary.

However, serious and complex cases are different. When liability is contested, injuries are catastrophic, causation is disputed, or substantial future losses are involved, the appropriate experts become an essential part of proving the case.

The decision should therefore be strategic: What issue needs to be proven, and is expert testimony necessary to prove it effectively?

Preparing an Expert Case From the Beginning

Expert issues and hiring experts cannot and should never be treated as something to address shortly before trial. A serious injury case must be evaluated from the beginning with potential expert issues in mind. Why? Evidence can disappear. Vehicles may be repaired or destroyed. Electronic vehicle data may be overwritten. Roadway conditions may change. Surveillance video can be erased. Witness memories fade.

For these and many other reasons, a lawyer handling a significant automobile collision needs to determine early on what evidence must be preserved and what experts should be retained.

At Kitrick, Lewis & Staley-Sladek, we prepare our cases as if we are going to try the case in the end. That way we are always prepared. That requires us to identify difficult issues early on, preserving evidence, carefully selecting the best most qualified experts, preparing them thoroughly, and anticipating how the defense will attempt to challenge their opinions and pre-empting those attacks.

Talk With an Ohio Car Accident Lawyer

If you or a family member has suffered serious injuries in an Ohio automobile collision, the quality of the investigation and preparation can and often does significantly affect the case outcome.

At Kitrick, Lewis & Staley-Sladek Co., L.P.A., we have over four decades of experience handling thousands of personal injury cases and working with countless expert witnesses in complex litigation. Our goal is not simply to hire experts. It is to assemble the evidence and expert testimony necessary to explain what happened, why it happened, how it injured our clients, and what those injuries mean for our clients’ futures.