Those who arenโt familiar with legal matters might assume that itโs easy to guess which prospective jurors might have strong biases based on their jobs, incomes, and levels of education. Yet todayโs successful Brooklyn personal injury trial attorneys have discovered that individual prejudices can be hard to detect. Therefore, we make sure to listen carefully as each prospective juror responds to open-ended questions that can reveal hidden biases. We work hard to select fair and reasonable jurors who are open to providing generous verdicts based on strong evidence.
Before discussing this topic further, some useful definitions related to Brooklyn jury selection will be shared. After these terms are noted, weโll take a closer look at some of the other factors that influence our ability to help jurors reach fair verdicts as they compensate injured clients.
Basic definitions for peremptory challenges, voir dire, and challenges for cause
Most Americans want to see proper justice provided to seriously injured plaintiffs who have been harmed due to another personโs negligence. Yet attorneys cannot achieve this goal if they fail to carefully navigate the pre-trial stage for questioning prospective jurors known as โvoir dire.โ
While conducting this process, lawyers will be eliminating prospective jurors from the jury panel based on either peremptory challenges or challenges for cause. Clear definitions are set forth below to help readers better understand how this process increases the chances of choosing jurors with limited biases or prejudices.
- Voir dire. This French term is often translated as โto speak the truth.โ (Its proper pronunciation is โvwahr deer.โ). Lawyers who take this process seriously sometimes hire jury consultants to help them prepare for this pre-trial stage. Other Brooklyn personal injury lawyers conduct mock (or fake) trials to help them gauge how some likely jurors
might respond to evidence like that in their current cases. And these attorneys may also try out lines of questioning to see if they can help elicit insightful responses.
- Peremptory challenges. Each Bronx personal injury attorney is provided with a small number of chances (often three per side) to drop a potential juror from the jury panel for unstated or โperemptoryโ reasons. While the law assumes that attorneys will not use these for overtly biased purposes, the opposing counsel can raise what is called a โBatson challenge.โ This is a claim that the opposing attorney used their opportunities to strike a potential juror for unlawful reasons — usually related to forbidden categories like sex, race, or ethnicity. A judge must then rule on this type of motion.
- Challenges for cause. While all challenges are supposed to be only exercised for proper legal reasons โ Brooklyn personal injury attorneys can theoretically have numerous challenges for cause. However, theyโll have to provide clear evidence of bias โ of various jurors who have openly admitted prejudice or have stated that they are unsure they can remain impartial in certain types of cases. Such stated reasons might involve a personโs employment with an insurance company or strong opinions formed back when a close family member suffered similar injuries.
When a plaintiff sues multiple parties, the defense side will usually be collectively awarded additional peremptory challenges. As this information indicates, challenges for cause remain the main tool for striking individuals from a jury pool.
Why lawyers must work so hard to discover hidden biases
We all want to believe that weโre fair-minded people, able to make unbiased decisions when circumstances call for it. Yet sadly, most of us have some conscious and unconscious prejudices. These may be related to another personโs age, gender, sexual orientation, race. ethnicity โ or disability. Regardless of how we acquired our biases, we owe it to other citizens to make fair or neutral evaluations of evidence when negligent parties have seriously hurt plaintiffs.
Hereโs a brief review of some prejudices that attorneys for plaintiffs and defendants search for while conducting voir dire — to increase the chances that their clients will prevail in a case over their opponents.
- A bias in favoring most plaintiffs. This might cause a potential juror to unfairly dismiss strong evidence that the seriously injured plaintiff played a significant role in causing an accident. Although this doesnโt always prove true, residents of poorer socio-economic backgrounds, people who hold โliberalโ political views, and those with strong views against corporate America may not always want to decide in favor of wealthier parties or corporate entities like insurance companies. Fortunately, New Yorkโs comparative negligence laws help maintain fairness when both parties played a role in causing harm.
- A defense-oriented prejudice. Highly educated professionals, citizens who strongly favor tort reform that seeks to reduce recovery amounts in some personal injury cases, and those who hold very conservative political views can fall into this category. However, careful management of the Brooklyn jury selection process can help a plaintiffโs lawyer dismiss individuals from the jury panel whose statements clearly indicate deep bias against poorer plaintiffs. Our justice system must always render verdicts based on the strength of the evidence โ not on the presumed size of a personโs bank account.
- Issue-oriented biases. While there can be many of these, some potential jurors have no personal or family experience of incurring severe physical injuries. This lack of clear understanding of all the pain and suffering that goes along with severe medical injuries can bias them against rendering a fair verdict. As we seek to build rapport with each potential juror โ we try to discover if theyโre open to even learning how extensive all forms of pain and suffering can be in common types of serious accidents. This is why โday in the lifeโ plaintiff videos and statements can help clarify the many different types of suffering people experience when they can no longer hold down a job or play with their small children at home. New and permanent physical disabilities are often tragic.
Key trial strategies that help our Brooklyn personal injury lawyers win their cases
- Like other attorneys, we sometimes create a trial strategy based on the practices of successful trial attorneys like the late Gerry Spence. We also know that itโs important to help all jurors feel like theyโre part of a โtribeโ seeking true justice. When people believe theyโre part of a respected group of people pursuing an important goal together, theyโre more likely to ask fair and important questions about the evidence.
- Our lawyers make sure that the jurors understand that we want them to feel that theyโve been completely fair and reasonable while evaluating evidence. This is why we spend significant time reviewing medical records โ and other objective facts such as telematic evidence obtained from certain objects like a GPS device or a carโs black box.
- In some cases, our lawyers may even start out by asking all the jurors if they could feel comfortable awarding a zero-dollar verdict if the evidence doesnโt fully convince them that the defendant directly harmed our client. We may then ask the entire jury if the evidence convinces them that the plaintiffโs permanent injuries and long-term pain and suffering can justify a multi-million-dollar verdict โ could they personally vote for such a verdict. By asking such questions back-to-back, weโre also letting jurors know that we care about justice and fairness โ and only want to win fair verdicts for our clients. Each jurorโs answers to such questions can also help reveal any previously hidden biases.
- An experienced Bronx car accident attorney might begin by raising the weakest aspects of his clientโs case โ hoping to prevent opposing counsel from scoring points for doing this. When done properly, this can convince jurors that theyโre interacting with a very honest lawyer who only wants justice to be served. Yet weโll then present all our strongest evidence, indicating that we think it fully offsets any weaknesses.
When attorneys fail to take this approach, they can harm their case if the jurors
believe thereโs hasnโt been complete openness about all issues from the beginning.
Weโll now separately address the critical role that your Brooklyn personal injury attorney plays when submitting jury instructions.
Requests to charge (the key jury instructions) we submit play a major role in your case
Before the court issues final jury instructions, the plaintiff and defense lawyers must each provide the presiding judge with a list of the detailed jury instructions that they strongly believe must be included. The judge will then meet with the attorneys in what is often called a โcharge conferenceโ when the merits of the proposed instructions will be discussed.
Should a requested jury instruction be denied, the lawyer who proposed it has a duty to have that denial made a formal part of the courtโs record. That same attorney can then base an appeal of the verdict on that ground, perhaps along with other grounds for reversal. As some experts have noted, jury instructions create a framework for how jurors interact with each other while reaching their final decisions.
If you have suffered serious injuries after an accident caused by someone elseโs negligence, you need to contact our Brooklyn personal injury law firm. We will carefully investigate all the facts of your case, review all your medical records, and then fight hard to win the maximum compensation available to you. We want every client to fully recover for all lost wages, pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other losses.
## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
### 1. What is voir dire in a Brooklyn personal injury trial?
Voir dire is the pre-trial process where attorneys question prospective jurors to uncover biases, prejudices, or conflicts that may affect their ability to deliver a fair verdict.
### 2. What are peremptory challenges?
Peremptory challenges allow attorneys to remove a limited number of jurors without stating a reason. However, they cannot be used for discriminatory purposes such as race or gender bias.
### 3. What is a challenge for cause?
A challenge for cause is used when a juror openly admits bias, conflict of interest, or inability to remain impartial. Unlike peremptory challenges, there is no strict numerical limit if valid legal grounds exist.
### 4. Why is jury selection so important in Brooklyn personal injury cases?
Jury selection can significantly influence the outcome of a case. Identifying hidden biases helps ensure that jurors evaluate evidence fairly and award compensation based solely on facts.
### 5. Can juror biases affect a million-dollar verdict?
Yes. Conscious or unconscious biases related to corporations, insurance companies, injury severity, or socio-economic issues can impact verdict amounts if not properly addressed during voir dire.
### 6. What is a Batson challenge?
A Batson challenge occurs when one attorney claims the opposing side improperly excluded a juror based on race, gender, or ethnicity. A judge must review and rule on the objection.
### 7. How do attorneys uncover hidden juror prejudice?
Experienced trial lawyers use open-ended questioning, mock trials, jury consultants, and strategic dialogue to identify subtle biases that may not be immediately apparent.
### 8. What role do jury instructions play in personal injury trials?
Jury instructions guide jurors on how to apply the law to the facts. Properly drafted โrequests to chargeโ can significantly shape how jurors deliberate and reach a verdict.
### 9. Can an attorney appeal based on improper jury instructions?
Yes. If a judge improperly denies a legally justified jury instruction, the issue can be preserved in the record and may serve as grounds for appeal.
### 10. How do Brooklyn personal injury attorneys build rapport with jurors?
Attorneys often emphasize fairness, transparency, and evidence-based arguments. They may acknowledge weaknesses in their case while highlighting strong objective evidence to build credibility and trust.
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