Creating facts and chronological events
Facts can be created manually or by highlighting key information from the evidence or any document.
Events are simply facts that have a time component, i.e. the date or date and time something happened. An event automatically becomes part of the case chronology and is added to the case timeline.
Use this method when adding facts or events manually, for example entering a treatment event off a paper copy of a medical record.
- To manually create a blank fact, click on [R+] > Create > Fact.
A new fact profile is created.
Like other profiles, the only section you must complete is 'Required Information'.
In this case,
- 'Relevance' and 'Impact Assessment' has been set to 'High' and 'For Us' respectively because this fact is both highly relevant and supports our argument.
- 'Impacted Party' has been set to 'Arcade Towers'. You can set a fact's impact to a specific party which is necessary in arbitration or multi-party cases but generally, this is left as one of the defaults 'Us' or 'Them'.
- In this example, 'Status' has been set to 'Our Authority' and 'Disputed by who' has been left blank. If 'Status' were disputed, then 'Disputed by' who would say 'Us' or 'Them', or you can select a player.
- 'Percentage' has been set to '60' to indicate we are only 60% confident that our argument and our evidence will "win" this point
For an event to appear automatically on the case chronology and timeline, enter the time and date it occurred in the red section outlined above. Then stipulate whether the dates are 'Exact' or not, below.
Facts can also relate to or substantiate the case issues.
- We've selected 'Liability\Manufacturer' from the list shown to link our fact to that issues. You can also use the 'Link to ...' buttons to select the appropriate issues or topics, etc.
- Save the profile once complete.
- Issue/Topics are keywords. To create keywords specific to your case and needs, see Creating keywords.
The newly created fact in the 'Facts > by Relevance' view.
When you need to substantiate a fact with certain document profile(s) as evidence, create the fact from within the profile(s). The blank fact is created as we've seen for you to complete, but in this case, a doclink back to the document profile is automatically inserted in the fact's 'OCR/Argument ...' field. If we need we can add some text to elaborate further.
We'll link a document profile, a metallurgical report, to a new fact about several incidents about the elevator failure in our case.
- From within the document profile, click 'Make Fact'.
A doclink back to the source document (a report) is automatically added to the 'Sources / Argument ...' section of the fact or event's profile where I can also write any further notes or argument about its importance.
When a document further substantiates or is related to an existing fact or event, use 'Add to Existing Fact'. That lets you browse to select an existing fact or timeline event and adds document references and links, to it.
Although we recommend you create extracts first and then link those extracts to facts or issues, especially since an extract may be needed to substantiate or support different facts and issues (see Creating extracts for more details) sometimes it's more appropriate to highlight text and make a fact or chronological event directly.
- Click 'Make Fact" to create a new fact or event from highlighted text.
- In this example, we add highlighted text to an existing fact and click 'Add to Existing Fact'.
v9+: If you're highlighting text to create an extract that is actually a new fact or event, you can now create that directly, saving the intermediate step of creating the extract first. The highlighted text is added to the fact's 'Source/Argument/Counter-Argument' section as expected, and the linked extract containing the highlighted text is created automatically for you. The extract's summary is prefixed with 'via Fact --' followed by the first line of the highlighted text, which you can edit if necessary.
- 'Add to Existing Fact' first displays the Fact browser for you to select the relevant fact.
Whether you created a new fact or are adding a link to an existing fact, the lines you highlighted and a doclink back to their source document is inserted above a dashed separator as shown below.
Yellow doclinks are all live links and while clicking any opens the linked profile, you can also select, cut and paste them like text. So you can write notes and argument and insert substantiating evidence right where you need it, as well as format text as you like.
We recommend creating facts or events from extracts created during review rather than directly from the documents themselves (see Creating extracts for more details). Here's how to do so, and to add extracts that provide probative evidence to existing facts and events in the case chronology.
A fact may therefore end up logically with the same name as the extract which is fine. Often though, that won't be the case, as many extracts will come together in substantiating some other fact.
v9+: If you're highlighting text to create an extract that is actually a new fact or event, you can now create that directly, saving the intermediate step of creating the extract first. The highlighted text is added to the fact's 'Source/Argument/Counter-Argument' section as expected, and the linked extract containing the highlighted text is created automatically for you. The extract's summary is prefixed with 'via Fact --' followed by the first line of the highlighted text, which you can edit if necessary.
- Let's open an extract and click on 'Make Fact'.
The fact is created as shown below, and the extract linked to it. We'll call it 'Research from various studies shows elevator accident causes and liability'.
Let's add an extract from a different expert report to it as further probative evidence.
- I locate the extract, open it, and then click on Add to Existing Fact.
- From the Fact browser that pops up, I select the fact or event I'm working on, and click OK.
The Extract is added above the inserted divider at the top of the section.
- I'll simply cut and paste it into the right place. And add any notes or argument to explain its relevance.
Although you can link profiles to existing facts as you review using the 'Add to Existing Fact' button, you can also do while creating a fact or adding notes or argument using the 'Insert doc-link' button in the 'Sources of fact ...' section.
- Click on 'Insert doc-link' as shown below.
The database browser is displayed.
Click the curved column header arrows to switch between MasterFile's many views (see this article for a detailed explanation) if the displayed view is not the one you need.
- I select the two documents I want.
Their doclinks are inserted and I write a brief note as to why. Later I can flesh it out with my full argument around this fact and its evidence.
