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Don’t Just Spin Your Wheels
Be smart and avoid bicycle accidents Biking has become more popular than ever in the U.S. According to a recent Rutgers University study, the number of bike commuters in the country rose by 64 percent between 1990 and 2009. Unfortunately, when bikes and automobiles share the road, an accident is always a possibility. And because […]
Danger Ahead – Tips for Driving in Bad Weather
Bad weather can make driving a lot more difficult. When road visibility and the control you have over your car are affected, the risk of an accident increases dramatically. Sometimes, staying in and waiting out the storm is your safest option. However, if you do have to drive, you should be familiar with some precautionary […]
Relevant Evidence
Although all evidence introduced by a lawyer must be considered “relevant evidence” before it can be admitted, many lawyers today would nevertheless struggle to give an adequate legal definition of the word “relevancy”. According to the Advisory Committee’s notes in drafting Rule 401 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, the proper definition is in the […]
Prejudice, Confusion and Waste of Time
Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence empowers judges to exclude evidence, which may pass the relevancy test (a rule of evidence explored in one of our previous blogs), but nevertheless unfairly biases jurors towards one side or the other, confuses them, or simply wastes the court’s time […]
Who is an Expert?
The distinction between expert witnesses and lay witnesses, as defined by the Federal Rules of Evidence, is likely far more complicated than most people realize. Despite their typical presentation on television, experts are not always doctors, scientists, or professors. As Rule 702 states, an expert can testify based on the expert’s own scientific, technical or […]
Beneficiaries
Many people are unaware that in a wrongful death action in Massachusetts, which is brought under Massachusetts General Laws, c. 229 s. 2, the proceeds are meant to be distributed to the statutory beneficiaries and pass outside of the estate. It must be noted that M.G.L. c. 229, sec. 2 references the classes of statutory […]
Distinctions with a difference: present sense impressions vs. excited utterances
Though they seem similar, there are clear and definitive differences between Rule 803(1) Present Sense Impressions and Rule 803(2) Excited Utterances. If applied correctly, each rule provides an exception to the the rule against hearsay. The former is used in court in the trial of a personal injury case far more than the latter. The […]
Admissions by Party Opponents vs. Declarations Against Interests
In my last blog, I wrote of the rule pertaining to admissions of party opponents, 801(d)(2) of the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence. Let’s contrast that to Rule 804(b)(3)’s declarations against interests exception. The most fundamental difference between these two exceptions is that in the first exception the declarant must […]
As a well-known politician said, ‘Trust but verify’
Loyalty to a client is an essential element of the attorney-client relationship. This relationship binds them through ‘thick and thin’ and against all other persons with conflicting interests. Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:07 and the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility Rule 1.7 state that an attorney cannot continue to represent two or more clients at […]
Celebrities and Their Personal Injury Cases
No one is immune to personal injuries caused by negligence. Every year it seems a celebrity is involved in some sort of personal injury case, and when they are, the spotlight is on them from the start. Here are some celebrities who have been in the news for personal injury matters recently: The singer Brett […]