3 Ways Your Driving Record Could Hurt Your Vehicular Personal Injury Claim

Your bad driving record could come back to haunt you in court as pursue a personal injury claim due to a vehicular accident as the plaintiff. However, there are only certain circumstances in which the defense can bring your driving record to light. Here the three ways your driving record could be brought to light, and what you and your attorney can do to avoid that happening.

#1: You Make A Claim On The Stand That You Are A Good Driver

Technically, the defense cannot ask you if you have any prior tickets or accidents on your record due to the prior bad acts rule, where your previous actions cannot be used to show that you committed the action under question.

However, if during your testimony or cross-examination, you make a claim on the stand that you are a good driver, the defense can use this opening to introduce your prior tickets and accidents. The defense may be allowed by the court to introduce this evidence in order to refute your statement and in order to show call your character into question.

#2: You State, Under Oath, That You Don't Have Any Prior Tickets Or Accidents

If you state, under oath, on the stand, that you don't have any prior tickets or accidents, once again, the defense can take advantage of this opening. If the defense has evidence that what you are saying is incorrect, they can introduce this evidence. That evidence can be introduced in order to show that you are lying under oath. 

#3: You Were Hurt In An Accident 

If you have ever been hurt in an accident, the defense may try to introduce this evidence. Generally, the defense will try to show that the injuries you suffered were not because of the accident in question, but because of a previous accident. If the defense can demonstrate that your injuries existed prior to the accident in question, they may be able to defeat your suit.

It is the job of your lawyer to do everything possible to present this evidence from being used in court. Your attorney may be able to get the judge to exclude the fact that you have been injured before. In order for your attorney to convince the judge to exclude that information, your attorney would have to prove that the previous accident results in no injuries, minor injuries, or injuries to a different part of your body. 

Even if your attorney like one from Owen Law Firm is not able to convince the judge to exclude the information that you have been in an accident before from being entered into evidence, they can try to get the judge to limit what information is present. 

In most cases, as long as you have not been hurt in a vehicular accident before, you should be able to keep all evidence of prior driving tickets and evidence out of court by not making any false statements on the stand. If you were hurt in an accident before, your attorney should take every step possible to prevent this evidence from being allowed to be used against you. 

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