Can someone tell me why rigor mortis is important to the pathologist. I need info on it for a table in my assessment. Any help would be invaluable.:p

Hi, ebony,
This is important in determining the time of death, among other reasons.
http://www.forensiconline.com/generallink.htm
The above link gives some good information. Scroll down about 1/2 way to the heading "Time of Death?".
Best wishes, and good luck.

As freds link mentions, rigor mortis is used to help determine time of death... though it is a phenomenon that is not permanent, and the tissues continue to break down... so noting various degrees of rigor mortis can help determine short term approximations of death (along with things like liver temp)... but over time other indicators come into play.