Jury Selection for Personal Injury Trial
The jury selection process in Personal Injury cases is very important. Questioning the potential jurors is a process known as “Voir Dire.” This may be the single most important process in the whole trial. Selecting the jurors who will give you the best chance to win your case is invaluable. For the purpose of simplicity, we will not go deep into preemptive challenges. I will only say that your opposition is able to eliminate certain jurors from the potential juror pool. You are also entitled to eliminate jurors who you feel will help your opponent.
Since the burden of proof is on the Plaintiff in a Personal Injury case, the Plaintiff is generally the party who asks the most questions to the potential jurors. Defendants are given an opportunity to question each juror after the Plaintiff has completed his questioning of that juror. After each grouping of jurors is questioned by both parties, the Plaintiff and Defendant leave the room and discuss which jurors will be eliminated from the selection process or selected to become a final member of the jury panel.
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Although this is an oversimplification of the jury selection process, the importance of the process cannot be overstated. You will need an attorney who has a strategy for jury selection that will give you the best chance to end up with a favorable jury panel. If you are not represented by counsel and have questions about your Personal Injury case, please call the Law Firm of Vaughn, Weber & Prakope, PLLC at 516-858-2620 to speak to a Personal Injury Attorney who can help you with jury selection and any other aspect of your litigation.
Evaluating a Personal Injury Case
There are several factors that need to be considered in determining what the value of a Personal Injury case is. Multiple attorneys can have varying opinions with regards to the same case. That is because some attorneys will lend more weight to certain factors that other attorneys decline to. At the end of the day however, the initial evaluation of the case can determine whether the client obtains the best possible result.
Most attorneys would agree that the multitude of factors that must be considered when evaluating a Personal Injury case can be placed into three groups. These groups are Liability, Damages and Venue.
Liability is the determination of which litigant was responsible for causing the incident that led to the lawsuit. Liability can be placed solely on the shoulders of one party, or can be divided between the parties by assigning percentages of fault based upon the facts of the case.
Damages are the injuries and losses incurred by the Plaintiff. Severity of the injury, length of time medical treatment is required and loss of wages are some of the prominent damages that are regularly seen in Personal Injury cases.
Venue refers to the location that the case is going to be tried. Past verdicts play a significant role in determining what a future case will be worth in the same county.
This is an over simplification of what goes into the evaluation process for a Personal Injury case. It is highly advisable to seek the assistance of an attorney in trying to decide the value of one of these types of cases.
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If you have been injured in an accident of any type, and have questions on how to proceed with your case, please call the Law Firm of Vaughn, Weber & Prakope, PLLC at (516) 858-2620 to speak with an attorney who can help you.
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