The Lady of Justice wears a blindfold to symbolize that everyone is equal
under the law, and that justice should be given out objectively,
without fear or favor, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness.
But did you know that there is a blindfold on the Jury too?
There are some things that the jury is prevented from knowing, such as the existence of insurance.
In most cases, the existence of insurance is hidden from the jury under Florida law.
The intent of the statute is to make sure that insurance has no influence on the jury's measurement of damage
Before this statute, the law in Florida allowed people who were injured in a crash,
to bring a lawsuit against the insurance company directly,
rather than against the person who caused the crash.
Insurance companies lobbied Florida law makers,
who changed the law and now prohibits any mention of insurance in a trial.
It was believed that if the jury knew there was insurance,
and that an individual did not have to pay the damages personally, the jury would award more money.
Now it is believed that since the jury does NOT know about the insurance,
they may be worried about the financial condition of the person who caused the injury,
and the jury may be afraid that the little old lady who caused the accident
might be bankrupted by a large verdict,
and therefore, the jury may award less money to the injured victim.
But you should know that as a juror,
when it comes time to figuring out the damages,
you are told that you are not to consider how the defendant will pay the damages.
Your only job is to consider what is fair compensation for the injured victim,
it is not to worry about the financial ability of the defendant to pay the loss.
EVER WONDER WHAT THE Insurance Limits are?
Well, the jury never gets to know what the limits are.
However, it is important to know that before the trial started,
there were probably some settlement negotiations.
If an insurance company has an opportunity to settle a claim within their insured’s policy limits,
and they don’t settle the case and it goes to trial,
well, the policy limits really won’t matter.
In most cases, the insurance company understands that if they gamble and lose,
that their insured should not have to pay the loss,
and the insurance company has to pay the judgment when it exceeds the policy limits.
So if a person who caused a crash only has a policy limit of Ten-Thousand Dollars,
and their insurance company did not settle the case,
and now their insured is in trial,
the chances are very high that if the jury were to award anything over the Ten-Thousand Dollars,
the insurance company will have to pay.
If the insurance company does not pay
and leaves their insured to suffer with a judgment against them,
it would probably result in “Bad Faith” by the insurance company,
and the insured may hire a lawyer to go after their own insurance company
for putting them in this position.
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED if the parties tried to settle the case before a trial?
The answer is almost always yes.
Before a suit is filed,
the attorney for the injured person will normally collect all the medical records and bills,
any lost wage information, and any important information about the fault and damages,
and send a letter to the insurance company for the negligent person,
and suggest that the matter be resolved.
If they can’t agree and a lawsuit is brought,
the judge usually orders the parties to “Mediation” which is a confidential settlement conference.
This allows the parties to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of their case,
and try and resolve the matter.
Mediation encourages settlement and everyone agrees that any discussions about settlement
are confidential and cannot be brought into court.
Sometimes certain insurance companies in medical malpractice cases
have taken a position that they will not negotiate,
they will never offer money,
and they would rather force their doctor to fight the case in trial,
and take the risk of a big loss.
These unfortunate situations are quite common.
Many insurance companies know that if they play hardball,
they will scare many people away from bringing a legitimate claim.
They win by scaring people about the risks of trial.
DID YOU KNOW THAT in Florida, there is no such thing as an “accident report?
” They are called Crash Reports.
The State of Florida officially re-named them crash reports in 1998.
The reason they are called Crash Reports, is because accidents can be avoided if people take precautions and are careful.
Therefore, there are really no accidents, only careless people driving unsafe.
AND WHY DOES THE LAW prevent the Jury from seeing the Crash Report?
Well,
Florida Law basically says that in order to encourage people
to tell the truth to the police officer at a crash,
that if they admit wrongdoing, then it should not be used against them later in a trial.
So to help the State of Florida to more effectively investigate crashes,
we don't let the jury see the crash report.
The statutes states:
“No such report or statement shall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal.”
WHO GOT THE ticket?
Why is this kept from the jury?
This is another Florida law which says:
Traffic citations shall not be admissible evidence in any trial,
except when used as evidence of falsification, forgery, fraud, or perjury…”
EVER WONDER WHO PAYS for the lawyer for the defendant?
The insurance companies pay for the lawyer and usually they will pick the lawyer for the case.
Many of these lawyers who defend bad drivers, are actually employees of the insurance company.
Many insurance companies such as GEICO, State Farm, Allstate,
and Progressive, have “in house” lawyers.
These lawyers are employees and are paid a salary for their work.
So no matter what the cost of the lawyer is,
the person being sued does not have to pay the cost.
The insurance company does.
ANOTHER MISCONCEPTION IS THAT
the jury may think that since your health insurance company paid your medical bills,
that you should not recover that money as part of the compensation for your losses.
But the jury will probably not be told that
your health insurance company has a “Right of Subrogation”
This means that since you were hurt by the fault of another,
and it was your health insurance company that paid YOUR medical bills,
THEY are entitled to be PAID BACK from your recovery.
The jury instructions on this point is somewhat confusing.
And many jurors deduct what was paid by the health insurance,
even though the judge will tell them not to make such a deduction.
AND HERE IS ONE Last thing that you should know.
If there is something that is broken or dangerous that caused you to be injured,
and it was later fixed by the at fault person, the jury is not usually told about this repair.
For example, when a weak board in a staircase is broken,
and you are injured by the broken step, and the very next day,
the business owner replaces or fixes the broken step, the jury will not be told about the repair.
Even though this evidence is very relevant to prove negligence,
it is generally in-admissible because of public policy reasons.
We don’t want to discourage people from fixing broken things that cause injuries.
So rather than letting the repairs become evidence to be used against the at fault person,
we as a society think it is better to exclude evidence of repair,
to encourage them to fix the dangerous condition.
I hope you found this information useful.
If you have any questions, please call me.
Thank you for watching my video.