• Auto Accidents
• Truck Accidents
• Serious Injuries
• Wrongful Death
• Motorcycle Accidents

Blog

General

• OHIO TO JOIN 38 OTHER STATES THAT BAN TEXTING WHILE DRIVING
• APPLYING THE COMMON FUND DOCTRINE TO REDUCE MEDPAY LIENS HELD BY INSURERS
• INSURANCE BAD FAITH CLAIMS IN OHIO
• OHIO WRONGFUL DEATH CLAIMS REQUIRE SWIFT ACTION

View More

Library

General

• The Importance of Witnesses in an Ohio Personal Injury Case

View More

Keeping “Insurance” Out of Ohio Trials

When you are hurt in an accident due to the negligence or careless of another person, whether in a car accident, motorcycle accident, truck accident, etc., it is the insurance company of the careless person that is responsible for paying your bills. This is, after all, why people carry insurance in the first place. Unfortunately, insurance companies may utilize many tactics and fight to not pay you what is fair after you have been injured. The less insurance companies pay out on claims made, the more profits they make. This is what gives insurance companies the incentive to get injured claimants to accept as low of an amount as possible to settle their claim.

Often times, with the help of an experienced Ohio personal injury lawyer, an injured party can obtain a fair settlement from the insurance company without even having to go to court.

Sometimes however, this is not the case, and an injured victim is faced with the choice of either accepting a low settlement or taking a chance and going to trial where eight complete strangers will determine what your injuries are worth.

What many people do not know is that there are many rules that determine what the jury will hear and how you get to tell your story to them. One of the more impactful rules of evidence on personal injury cases in Ohio is the ban on mentioning that the real party who will be paying your bills is the insurance company for the careless person. That's right, even though the real reason that people injured in accidents are usually forced to go to trial is because of the defendant's insurance company, a jury will usually never hear about this fact. If an attorney makes an argument during trial that points the blame to the insurance company, the judge may throw the case out and start the trial all over again. This leads to problems for plaintiffs in Ohio personal injury cases. First, a jury might think that the individual defendant will be forced to pay whatever award they give the plaintiff out of his/her own pocket, thus making a jury hesitant in making a large award, especially where a defendant might appear sympathetic. Defense lawyers love to trot out their little old lady defendants and make it seem like they are the ones who actually have to pay the jury award, when this is rarely the case.

However, there are exceptions to this rule and ways to inject insurance into the courtroom, sometimes not directly, but at least in a way to get the jury thinking about insurance. For example, during voir dire, or the questioning of a jury prior to the commencement of the actual trial to see if any bias exists amongst jurors, an attorney may ask jurors whether or not they have any connection to insurance carriers.

In addition, a trial court may not find any harm where the accidental mentioning of the defendant's insurance company was inadvertent during the plaintiff's answering of a question that was not directed at eliciting such information. More than one Appellate Court in Ohio have held this. So, for example, one appellate court held that where an attorney was asking the injured plaintiff about a defense medical exam, and the plaintiff answered that the exam was done by the insurance company's doctor at the request of the insurance company, it was permissible for the trial judge to hold that this was not enough to warrant a new trial. These decisions seem to allow leeway where there is inadvertent mentioning of the defendant's insurance company.

An experienced Ohio personal injury attorney will understand the rules of trial and use them to your advantage whenever possible.

For more information about this subject go to www.Chesterlaw.com and request a copy of my free Book entitled The Insider's Guide to Handling Ohio Accident Claims. You can also order my free DVD entitled What you should know about motor vehicle injury claims. Both the free Book and free DVD describe in more detail what you need to know to protect your rights NOW.

Call the experienced personal injury attorneys at Chester Law Group today to get the help you want from people you can trust (800) 218-4243

Contact us today for a FREE, NO OBLIGATION consultation about your personal injury legal needs.

Videos

General:

• What Does a Personal Injury Attorney Do For You?
• Do You Really Need a Lawyer? - Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Answers
• Ohio Personal Injury Attorney Discusses How a Lawyer Protects You
• Legal Fees Explained by Ohio Personal Injury Attorney
• Can You File a Personal Injury Claim if You Caused the Accident? Ohio Attorney Says No

View More