Personal Injury Cases: an Introduction for Interpreters
This recorded webinar was taught in July of 2022 by Seth Hammock, a Master Licensed Court Interpreter for Spanish in Austin, Texas. Seth is co-founder of GoSignify.com, an online booking service for interpreters. The host was Marco Hanson of Texan Translation. Seth explains common English terminology in personal injury cases like tort, slip-and-fall, discovery, and prove-up. He describes the process of investigation, treatment, resolution, followed by consultation, demand letters, court filings, discovery, settlement, and rarely, a trial. The linguistic challenges include regulatory language, technical vocabulary, complex narratives, and a strongly adversarial setting.
Sample sentences to practice interpreting:
"Is it correct that on March 25, 2020, you were driving north near the intersection of Watts Lane and FM-812 in Caldwell County, with Linda Torres, when Mr. Saucedo ran a stop sign and pulled his truck out in front of you?"
"Is it correct that Kenia suffered from swelling to the face, neck and abdominal pain with vomiting, concussion, a right orbital fracture, and was admitted for pain control and concussion monitoring?"
"I have that Laura had approximately $30,289.44 in medical expenses relating to this collision that were reduced down to $16,564.44. Plaintiff’s Counsel fee is $7,500.00 and expenses of $68.55, leaving Kenia Torres with $5,867.01."