The Benefits to Hiring a Private Investigative Firm for Criminal and Civil Cases – Thomas Ruskin Speaking at the ABA Family Law Section CLE Conference

When we talk about a private investigative firm, what are the benefits to hiring a private investigative firm over a licensed individual?

The benefits of a private investigative firm:

• Are always licensed bonded and insured.
• Available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• We have a full complement of investigators who can perform civil as well as criminal investigations.

We started in one case, a tremendous case out of New York State, where the husband was arrested.  He was returning the kids as per legal and custody visitation, on a Sunday. He brings the kids back to the mother’s apartment at about 1:10 in the afternoon. He returns the kids.  One of the kids had forgotten something at his apartment five blocks away.  He ran back with the kids and comes back around 1:23 in the afternoon and returns the kids. No event or special occurrence had happened.

That night at 8:12 in the evening, she calls the N.Y.P.D. and she reports that her husband, seven hours before, had assaulted her. That he had grabbed her face and punched her in the eye. She had slight swelling and redness by the side of her eye when the N.Y.P.D. was there, they took a couple of photos.

We were brought into the case shortly thereafter to investigate the criminal side. What happened is that this case blew up, it’s a very well known case of Mehos vs Mehos.

We were brought in on the criminal side.  Eventually we proved, on the Friday before the alleged assault, she had botox injections and juvederm.  That was the mark on her face where he supposedly grabbed her. The markings and the redness underneath her eye had been caused over two days after bad dermatologist injected her with botox.

Needless to say, this turned into a custody battle.  What came out of this case, the criminal side, was a total civil investigation into her drug and alcohol use.  We ended up surveilling her for countless numbers of days to show that she was manipulating the drug system.  She was going to different drug stores with different prescriptions with different doctors.

Eventually she lost custody of her children and are now living out of state. The judge was so appalled by some of the behavior of this woman they gave full custody to the father. The father is now living with the kids back in his home state of Texas.

Using a private investigation in personal injury cases

Investigators are finders of the facts whose mission is to obtain information and evidence.  That information may be used to bolster your case in a court of law or as intelligence to help you make informed decisions.  Learning the facts involved in a personal injury cases, whether it’s an auto accident, slip and fall, physical attack, product liability, nursing home abuse or construction accident.

Personal injury cases can be life changing events for both the plaintiff and the defendant.  In either case it may be wise to have your lawyer work with an investigator.  Before we begin about the investigation let’s discuss a run-down of types of awarded damages.

There are two types of damages in Personal Injury cases, compensatory and punitive.  Compensatory damages are intended to compensate the injured plaintiff for what was lost due to an injury or accident.  The idea is to make the plaintiff “whole” again from a monetary standpoint.  Usually compensation will fall into these categories.

Medical Treatment – Reimbursement for treatment due to the injury.

Income – Reimbursement if your ability to work at the time of the injury and perhaps going forward.

Property Loss – If any property was damaged as a result of the accident

Pain and Suffering – Discomfort that was suffered during and after the accident.

Emotional Distress – Psychological impact of an injury – fear, anxiety and loss of sleep.

Loss of Enjoyment – Injuries that keep you from enjoying day to day hobbies, exercise and recreational activities.

Loss of Consortium – Injuries that impact the plaintiff’s spousal relationship (inability to maintain a sexual relationship),

Plaintiffs received punitive damages 30% of the time.  The median punitive damage award was $64,000.00 and 13% of cases with punitive awards had damages of $1 million or more.

Punitive Damages are awarded if the defendant’s conduct is deemed particularly careless or negligent and are intended to “punish” the defendant for their conduct.  Usually punitive damages are awarded in addition to compensatory damages.

So how can a Private Investigator help with my investigation? 

Whether your are the plaintiff or the defendant having a personal detective (preferably one with law enforcement experience) may be able to make or break a case.

Accident Reconstruction:  Forensic accident reconstruction (car accident, hit and run, boating, bicycles, motor cycles. etc.) presents a visual to better understand the events, speeds or movements leading up to the accident.

Interviews: Canvassing the area of the accident, speaking to witnesses, obtaining any surveillance footage from local businesses that may show the accident.

Surveillance: In cases where you were the defendant and sued for damages but you were suspicious that the plaintiff may be an actor, surveillance may help prove your defense.  Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have surveillance footage showing an “injured” plaintiff participating in an active recreation, perhaps soccer on the weekend with their friends?

Background Check: Showing a history of either the defendant or plaintiff’s legal activities may show a history of reckless driving, multiple law suits (in the business we call them sue-happy) or other unknowns.