Austin Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Austin Personal Injury Trials: Jurors in the Dark About Insurance

  

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The following post comes from Lloyd Bemis, a partner at Bemis, Roach, & Reed who focuses on Personal Injury law in Austin, Texas:

I have found that most of the clients I meet with in Austin, who have suffered a personal injury, are not aware of the fact that if their case goes to trial that the jury will be kept in dark about a variety of issues.  Most people who are involved in an auto accident in Austin, TX believe that when the negligent driver’s insurance company refuses to pay their claim, that the injured party will be able to sue the negligent driver’s insurance company.  This is not correct. Not only will they be forced to sue the negligent driver and not the negligent driver’s insurance company, the court will prohibit the plaintiff from even mentioning that the negligent driver has insurance.  

Therefore, the jury will be led to believe that it is the driver who will have to pay the verdict.   Also, if the negligent driver has had numerous prior driving infractions, such prior offenses are rarely admissible. In addition, due to the heavy marketing by insurance companies and big business interests, most people believe that plaintiffs have likely been offered a significant amount prior to trial, so that the trial is probably necessary because the plaintiff is greedy.  

A plaintiff is not allowed to combat this preconceived notion by informing the jury that the only reason the plaintiff was forced to file suit is because the defendant either refused to pay the claim or only offered an insultingly low offer. All settlement negotiations are inadmissible. In questioning jurors after trials most are astonished when they hear how little was offered the plaintiff by the insurance company prior to trial.