Is Your Law Firm Using Public Records Effectively? Here's How.

Law schools typically don’t teach aspiring lawyers how to effectively use public records during litigation. Consequently, many law firms don’t utilize public records, missing out on the many benefits they offer. 

As a result, they over rely on discovery practices that can tip their hand to the opposing counsel, allowing them to better counter your claims. 

Public records are one of the best kept secrets for maximizing your case results.

In this piece, I’ll walk you through the most useful public records for case prep, how to locate them, and ways your firm can use them to boost your case outcomes.

Does your firm struggle to locate witnesses when the databases fail? Download my free guide on how to locate the hard to find witness so you can interview her BEFORE the opposing side does. Click here to get your FREE guide or download using the form below. 

Want to maximize your case outcomes? Check out my eBook, Effective Litigation Investigations. You’ll learn the investigation techniques I used during my 30 years of successfully helping attorneys to get the most from their cases. You can learn more by clicking here.

What Are Public Records 

Each state provides a slightly different definition of what are deemed public records, and may exempt different types of records that another state does not. So it’s best to become familiar with your state’s public record’s act.

Generally speaking, public records are any information in a physical form (documents, photographs, audio, video, and electronic) that are held by a government agency regarding government business.

Use in Litigation

Certified public records are generally deemed to be self-authenticating, and as a result are typically admissible in court. 

They can be used during hearings, motions practice, depositions, and at trial to prove or disprove a fact. 

They can also be used for impeachment purposes and to refresh a witness’s recollection.

In addition, public records are useful to prove cases involving negligent entrustment, hiring and retention claims. As well as to show pattern and practice, and to prove up prior bad acts.

Public records are a great tool to use to locate witnesses, and to determine ownership of an entity, or property. 

They can also help to evaluate attachable assets when you are debating accepting policy limits offers. 

One especially important reason for using public records is that typically falls outside of discovery, as they don’t require a subpoena. Thus, allowing your firm the ability to develop information without disclosing your litigation strategy to the opposing counsel. 

Most Useful Public Records for Litigation

Because every case is different, and there are so many different types of public records, it is difficult to generalize about the usefulness of different public records. It really is case determinant. But, here are some guidelines:

Court Records: These types of public records can be useful for:

• locating witnesses.
• Identifying individuals who can testify to reputations for honesty and veracity.
• Premises liability.
• Proving negligent entrustment (accident), negligent hiring and negligent retention (dangerous conduct).
• Prior bad acts.
• Impeachment of a witness or party opponent.

Traffic Signal, Vehicle, and Street Maintenance and Repair Records: These types of records can be useful for:

• Vehicle accident cases to identify/ confirm traffic signal maintenance, timing, repairs and installation.
• Street light maintenance, repairs, and on/off  timer sequences.
• Vehicle maintenance and repair records of government vehicles involved in crashes.

Crash Reports: These records are useful for:

• Accident cases including showing prior accidents for negligent entrustment.
• Documenting the number of accidents at a specific location to show a known safety hazard, and what may have been known, by a government defendant, about design and maintenance related issues. 

Police Reports: These records can be useful for:

• Locating witnesses.
• Premises liability for acts of violence as well as for trip and falls.
• Identifying associates and family members of defendants, and of witnesses.
• Researching prior bad acts.
• Negligent entrustment, retention, and hiring claims.

Property Records: These records can be useful for:

• Identifying property ownership including to determine when a property was acquired or transferred.
• Witness locates.
• Asset valuations.
• Fraudulent concealment of assets to create the appearance of being judgment proof.
• Litigating zoning cases. (Building department records including building permit records can assist with these investigations).

Marriage Records: These records can be useful for:

• Witness locates.
• Identifying relatives, and close associates of a subject or the party opponent.

Business and Professional Records: These records can be useful for:

• Business ownership information.
• Business licensing including identifying all partners and operation locations.
• Regulatory agency records can provide insurance and bonding info, years and levels of experience, business partners, connections, and clients (building permits).

These are just some of the records that I regularly used to assist my attorney clients in preparing cases for trial and settlement. There are literally billions of public records and knowing how to access them, and when and how to use them can help maximize your case outcomes.

Struggling to locate hard to find witnesses in a timely manner. If you’d like to learn more about how to use public records, and other sources, to locate the difficult to find witnesses in your case, you can use the form below to request your copy of our FREE PDF download guide to locating and interviewing hard to find witnesses.