Juries in Motor Vehicle Accidents

Facing a trial can feel overwhelming, especially when there’s a jury involved.  In this video, Partner Robert Ben shares what clients should know about juries in motor vehicle accident cases.

Trial by jury can be very different than a trial by judge. In a trial by judge, you’re dealing with someone who was a lawyer. And as a judge has probably tried many, many cases and is very familiar with the complexities. None of this is known to most juries, and that’s why they need a lot of help through expert opinion evidence and other evidence to help them understand. But it’s much more of a challenge to translate some of the complexities of personal injury cases, medical malpractice cases, in a way that a jury can digest, appreciate, understand and make a just determination about.

What are the challenges juries in motor vehicle accidents face?

Juries hearing cases arising out of motor vehicle accidents are kept in the dark about a lot of things. The first thing that they do not know, and none of the parties are allowed to disclose to the jury, is that even though the defendant is being sued in his or her name personally, in reality, in the vast majority of cases, that defendant is being defended by lawyers appointed by and paid for by the defendant’s auto insurance company.

The other thing that jurors aren’t allowed to know is that even if they make an award for something like pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, that doesn’t mean that the injury victim will actually recover that award. Because after the jury is discharged, the defendant, the insurance company, can bring a motion to have a judge rule separately on whether or not the injury meets that legal threshold.

How do clients often feel about jury trials?

They’re worried that the jury is not going to understand the complexities of their injury or their situation, or the impact it’s had on their life. But in my experience, every single jury that I’ve had to deal with has always been fair-minded, reasonable, very attentive, and very interested in doing the right thing.

Robert M. Ben is a Personal Injury Lawyer and a Partner at Thomson Rogers LLP. Robert is listed in peer-reviewed publications – Lexpert® and The Best Lawyers™ in Canada and is ranked AV preeminent in Martindale-Hubbell ®. Robert can be reached at 416-868-3168 or by email.