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Politics : Piffer Thread on Political Rantings and Ravings
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To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (11450)8/7/2003 11:57:02 AM
From: mph  Read Replies (2) of 14610
 
Gloopie, the rules of evidence keep a lot
of "relevant" information from juries across
the board.

In criminal cases, you have exclusionary rules
to penalize unjustified searches and seizures.

In civil cases, juries are generally not told that
the plaintiff received workers compensation benefits
for the injury or the amounts of pre-trial settlements
with other defendants. They're not told how their
allocation of fault percentages affects the ultimate
recovery. Remarriage of a widow is inadmissible evidence
in a wrongful death case.

Just a few examples.

In the mid 90's I tried a spoliation of evidence
case in Orange County. Not many people had tried
such cases so we were sorta breaking new ground on the
method of presentation.

The court allowed me to explain how the tort system
works to the jury in opening statement. (This
was necessary for jurors to understand the significance
of the lost evidence to the underlying case).

I spent 1 1/2 hours in the opening, explaining the law
and how trials work.

There was an audible gasp when I explained joint and
several liability where a marginally responsible, but solvent, defendant can be tagged for the lion's share of a judgment.

That information is never provided to juries.

I think I tainted that pool forever:-)
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