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Evidence Jurors Never Hear
A trial is supposed to be where jurors find the truth. Right? So, shouldn’t they get to hear anything relevant to making that decision? Well, believe it or not, they don’t get to hear all relevant evidence. Let’s just look at three examples.
Florida law provides that whatever automobile drivers tell the investigating police officer at the accident scene is not admissible in any civil lawsuit arising from the accident. For example, if a driver runs a red light and collides with you, they can admit to the police officer that they ran a red, but they can later testify in your civil case against them that they did not run the red light. Your attorney can’t have the police officer testify the other driver admitted he ran the red. There are some very rare exceptions, but every day in courtrooms across Florida, this relic of the law prevents jurors from hearing the whole truth about how accidents happen. Florida law also prevents jurors from being told that a driver has insurance, how much insurance they have, what offers of settlement were made, and in most cases, what a person’s driving history has been.
When you serve on jury duty, you are never told any of this. In fact, you are told that you can’t consider such things, and you must decide the case only on what you hear in court. It is unfortunate that, in many cases, jurors never hear the whole story. Who does that hurt? Most often, the person who has the burden of proof in the case. If you are the injured person who was not at fault for the accident, that means you.
These unfair laws are all the more reason you need to be sure you have an experienced automobile accident attorney who knows how to meet the exceptions to these rules or otherwise present your case persuasively to overcome them. Injured in an automobile accident in Florida? Contact us for a free legal consultation now.
