The Online Asbestos, Asbestos Cancer, & Mesothelioma Authority
Corroborating Evidence
Another term for this might be "supporting evidence," for in legal proceedings, that is what corroborating evidence does: provides additional proof for a proposition already established by testimony or other evidence. ("Corroborating evidence" is also a term used in experimental science and the study of logic, which is beyond the current discussion.)
Here is an example how corroborating evidence might work in a criminal trial: a witness, Mr. Hernandez, testifies that he saw the defendant enter Mr. Singh's Kwiki-Mart holding a .38 caliber Colt revolver. The corroborating evidence would be a ballistics lab report showing that spent shells recovered at the crime scene indeed came from such a gun, and that a gun found in a nearby trash can had been recently fired. The evidence would be further corroborated by a report that the defendant had traces of powder on the gloves he was wearing when apprehended.
Corroborating evidence in a civil suit essentially works the same way. Mr. Danbury, the plaintiff, testifies that he worked in the "pot room" of an aluminum plant and had been exposed to asbestos dust. His co-worker, Ms. Wong, testifies that she had seen the insulation around the pipes crumbling during the time period in question. Company records subpoenaed from the aluminum plant indicate that insulation in that particular pot room had been purchased from the Killemwith Asbestos Corporation twenty years earlier.
In the foregoing examples, both propositions were confirmed by tangible evidence; in the first one, the lab report, and in the second, the company records. What if there had been no report or records?
When the evidence is based on verbal or written testimony, an attorney may use casuistry, which is type of reasoning based on case law, precedent and logic. For example, if there had been no company records at the aluminum plant, the plaintiff's attorney would argue that since she was not personally acquainted with Mr. Danbury and had no issues with the company, Ms. Wong had no reason to give false testimony.