Arlington Circuit Court Motion in Limine for Herndon Reston injury law firm

By doing extra work ahead of time, injured workers lawyer Doug Landau went to Arlington Circuit Court in order to get pre-trial rulings on what would be the fair rulings of the Court so as to avoid a mistrial or misunderstandings

Just because someone is hurt on the job should not mean that they give up all right to privacy.  Insurance defense lawyers enjoy going on “fishing expeditions” to try to find out all the “dirt” they can on the injured victims and their families.  Sometimes these tactics reveal relevant information that should be brought before the judge and jury.  Most times, such information, while “fair game” in pre-trial discovery, is not relevant for trial.  Workplace injury lawyer Doug Landau has been asked, “Is there anything my lawyer can do so that embarrassing stuff I did does not distract the jury at my personal injury trial ?”

The short answer is “yes.”  Unless your accident lawyer is lazy, he or she should file what is called a “Motion in Limine” or “Pre-Trial Motion” and ask the Court to decide which things the insurance defense lawyers can talk about and which they cannot.  The trial court can do this, because the judge can decode that “the passion and prejudice” some issues may raise may “outweigh their probative value.”  In other words, some topics are so prejudicial, that their mere mention will cause the jury to “pre-judge” the case and not listen to all of the relevant facts and witnesses.  See tomorrow’s post for a discussion of what issues a trial judge may not allow at trial…