WHO IS AT FAULT?

Even if the driver that hit you was given a ticket for speeding, running a stop sign, careless driving, or even reckless driving/endangerment, NOBODY at your trial will hear a word about those tickets. Wait, it’s on the police report! We’ll take that into court. Things are not that simple, Section 316.066 of the Florida Statutes does not allow the jury to hear about any written reports made by people in a car crash. The statements to a police officer by the person who hit you admitting fault or even the Police report itself can not be told to the jury!

Well by now you may be wondering “How does a jury know who caused the accident”? Luckily there are several ways. You, the Plaintiff, or anyone who actually witnessed the crash, can talk about the accident as it occurred and what they saw. If the officer did not see the crash (a common occurrence), he or she can still testify as to what he saw at the crash scene (such as skid marks, the location of the car crash, the damage to the vehicles, etc). Lesson: Be sure to get witness names and addresses!

NOW WHOM ARE YOU SUING?

Just as surprising to many of our clients is that unless they are suing their own insurance company, the jury will never hear the word “insurance”. In fact, many times the jury does not suspect that the defense attorneys, the defendant’s doctors who examine you, private investigators, witnesses or many of their photos and videos were all bought and paid for by the Defendant’s own insurance company! To the jury, it will appear that you, the Plaintiff, has decided to sue this individual Defendant who may appear unable to afford to pay any type of money or “judgment” that a jury may decide to award you!

How did this happen? Well after decades of lobbying and millions of dollars spent, the Insurance Companies managed to convince enough people that if the company was being sued instead of the driver who hit you, this could encourage juries to award more money due to the fact that the victim or Plaintiff was suing a company instead of a person! In our experience, we find the exact opposite may occur. Often a jury may decide against a large verdict against the Defendant who hit you, not because of the facts of the case, but because they feel sorry for the Defendant or they don’t think the Defendant is capable of paying a large amount of money.

Now what can be done about that? Well the simple answer is knowledge! The more people know that Insurance Companies are responsible to pay out any verdicts awarded to you at trial, the fairer our Justice system becomes. Now that you know some common myths about a Plaintiff’s trial experience, you are now armed with the facts so spread the word!