Important Steps During Personal Injury Trials

There is a specialized civil trial called a personal injury trial. This determines liability, or legal responsibility, for an injury to a party. This is not a criminal trial; the determination of liability is not about punishing the liable party, but about compensating the injured party and awarding damages to them. There are several key steps in a personal injury trial.

First there will need to be a jury. The jury isn’t automatically appointed or random. The jury is chosen from a pool of randomly nominated people. Each person who is in this pool is questioned to make sure they will be an impartial judge. Anyone who has a conflict of interest or who may be biased will be left off of the jury.

Then after the jury is chosen and assembled, the attorneys make opening statements. These statements are where each side lays out a quick overview of what they will be arguing. The plaintiff presents their overview, and then the defendant reinterprets this viewpoint to suggest they are not at fault.

Victim and witness testimony comes next. In testimony, you can’t discuss rumor, nor can you conjecture about what you think happened. Testimony is where someone describes exactly what happened to them, or what they saw happen to someone. You can only talk about facts that you know from experience, usually.

Cross-examination may occur. If this happens, the opposing counsel questions a witness and reviews their statements, with the goal of exposing inconsistency, bias, or untruthfulness.

Lastly comes closing arguments. This is the chance for each side to present an overview or wrap up of their arguments and the data supporting their arguments. It is the last component of the trial before the jury leaves to deliberate and vote.

These steps are all a way to help the jury be able to make a strong evidence-based determination of fault. They should have a good idea of what really happened in the case, and whose fault it is that injury occurred. They do this by reviewing the data, and then the jury votes whether the plaintiff wins or the defendant wins.

After the jury has decided, it will come out and announce its ruling. Most states require that the jury’s decision be unanimous. Even among states that don’t require a unanimous decision, they still require an overwhelming majority of at least 9 to 3.

Read more of this author’s articles on subjects including Rocket Spanish and Magniwork.

Published by: Frances Nicolas on July 12th, 2010 | Filed under Legal



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