In almost all judicial reviews, witnesses do not show up and give live evidence in court. Rather, you write everything down in sworn statements called affidavits. You must serve all the affidavits you are relying on at the same time as when you are serving your petition on the people who will be getting notice of your case.
Attaching Evidence and Documents
You can attach important documents that you want the court to see to your affidavits.
In most cases, you can only include evidence and documents that were given to WCAT when it made its decision. Most often, you cannot include new evidence or documents in your affidavits. This is because the judge’s job is to see if WCAT made an error that will allow the judge to interfere with WCAT’s decision. The judge’s job is not to make a brand new decision about your WCB claim.
You can attach copies of documents from your WCAT hearing as exhibits at the back of the affidavit. You should make sure that the most important documents about your case are attached. However, the lawyers for WCAT often file a full copy of all the relevant paperwork in your WCB file. This is called the “certified record”. As a result, it is usually not necessary to attach every piece of paper in your file to an affidavit. It is a good idea to confirm with WCAT’s lawyers that they will be filing a certified record in court.
Drafting and Swearing the Affidavit
The sworn statement part of an affidavit (called the body of the affidavit) is where you state the facts of the case. In an affidavit, you are trying to provide evidence for the court about your WCB claim and what happened leading up to the WCAT hearing. Do not put legal arguments in your affidavit, just stick to the facts.
Be very careful when you are drafting your affidavits to make sure that everything is true and accurate. The person making the affidavit will need to go in front of someone who can swear or affirm affidavits to give an oath (a very serious promise) that what is written down in the affidavit is all true and accurate. Swearing an affidavit means that you are making a religious oath that it is all true. Affirming an affidavit means that you are making a non-religious promise that it is all true. There is absolutely no legal difference between the two, so just pick whatever fits with your values and beliefs. Each court registry has someone that can swear or affirm your affidavit for a fee. All lawyers and notaries can also swear or affirm affidavits. If you do not have the money to have your affidavit sworn, you can ask the court to waive (remove) this fee for you.
This is a blank affidavit in support of a petition that you can download and fill in: Blank Affidavit in Support of Petition
This is an example affidavit in support of a petition that you can use as a guide: Example Affidavit in Support of Petition