The following blog entry is written to illustrate a common motion filed during civil litigation. Reviewing this kind of filing should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases present such issues to the court.
(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this car accident lawsuit and its proceedings.)
A motion in limine seeking to preclude any reference to corporate defendant’s nonprofit status was properly granted where such status was not relevant to the issues and might improperly curry favor with the jury. See Notrica v. State Comp. Ins. Fund (1999) 70 Cal. App. 4th 911, 933-935. As such, the mere mention of plaintiff being a “war hero” or any derivative thereof is substantially prejudicial to the defendants as a jury may be inclined to gamer sympathy and thereby obtain an award to plaintiff solely because of his status as a war hero and not based upon whether or not XYZ was responsible in any manner for the accident or the extent of the injuries sustained in the August 25, 2008 accident. Therefore, pursuant to Evidence Code §352, such evidence must be excluded from trial.
Finally, evidence pertaining to Mr. West being a veteran of WWII and being involved in two of the most well known military battles is not admissible as character evidence for two reasons. First, evidence of character, other than for honesty, is inadmissible to attack or support the credibility of a witness. Evidence Code §786. Here, Mr. West’s military history does not in any way demonstrate his propensity to tell the truth. Second, even if it did, evidence of a witness’s good character for credibility is inadmissible unless evidence of the witness’s bad character has first been admitted. Evidence Code §790. As such, Mr. West military history must also be excluded as improper character evidence.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, this Court should prohibit plaintiffs, their counsel and their witnesses from portraying, referring to, attempting to introduce, or introduce any testimony or documents pertaining to plaintiff being a WWII veteran a war hero or a patriot, or any derivative thereof.
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.