How a Case Investigation Report Is Built

A case investigation report answers one question for a firm: is this matter worth taking, and on what theory? It is built in a fixed sequence, because each step depends on the one before it.

Step one — inventory the file

Everything received is listed and paginated: intake notes, incident and police reports, photographs, insurance correspondence, medical records, witness details. Anything referenced but absent goes straight onto the gap list.

Step two — build the fact chronology

Dated events only, each cited to a page. No characterisation. This becomes the spine every later section refers back to.

Step three — identify the parties and potential defendants

Named individuals, entities, employers, insurers and policy limits where the file discloses them, with the relationships between them set out plainly.

Step four — analyse liability

What the record supports, what it undercuts, and where it is silent. Comparative fault indicators are flagged rather than argued away.

Step five — assemble the damages picture

Treatment to date, ongoing care indicated in the record, documented wage loss and out-of-pocket costs — each with a citation and a note where documentation is missing.

Step six — write the evidence-gap list

The most valuable page in the report: the specific records, statements, photographs and authorisations that would move the matter, in priority order. It converts the report into a task list.

Step seven — internal review

Two rounds before delivery. The first checks every citation resolves; the second checks the analysis follows from the cited facts and nothing has been asserted beyond the record.

What the report never contains is a recommendation to accept or decline, a valuation or a legal opinion. Those are counsel's calls. Scope, deliverable and turnaround are on the case investigation reports page, and the process governing every stage is documented under how we work.