What Jurors Are Not Told

The insurance companies and big corporations have been very powerful in Colorado for a long time. They have been able to use their power to get laws passed which conceal information from jurors and, in fact, mislead jurors regarding the real facts of a case. The following are some examples of this.

1. JURY NOT TOLD OF INSURANCE

When someone wrongfully injures another person, there is usually liability insurance to provide protection to the wrongdoer. This is the case in auto cases and medical malpractice cases among others. The insurance company takes over and controls the case. Despite the presence of insurance, the jury is never told that there is insurance protecting the wrongdoer. If a case cannot be settled and has to be filed in court, the victim must bring suit against the wrongdoer individually and cannot name the insurance company in the case. The result is that, as far as the jury knows, any verdict will be paid by the wrongdoer individually out of his or her own pocket. It is misleading to allow the jury to believe this when it is never true.

2. DOCTOR’S EXPERTS INSURED BY SAME INSURANCE COMPANY

In medical malpractice cases, physicians who testify as an expert on behalf of the defendant doctor are usually insured by the same professional liability insurance carrier as the defendant doctor. There is one insurance company that insures almost all of the doctors in the state of Colorado. The attorney for the victim of the malpractice is not permitted to reveal to the jury this conflict of interest on the part of the expert doctor. The expert witness doctor has a clear interest in trying to protect the defendant doctor to keep his or her own insurance premiums down.

3. JURY IS NOT TOLD OF CAPS ON THEIR AWARD

In Colorado the insurance companies, particularly the insurance company for doctors, have been powerful enough to get the legislature to pass laws placing artificial caps on jury awards to catastrophically injured victims. Jurors are not told of these caps. The most arbitrary cap is on any award for pain and suffering, impact on a person’s life, disfigurement, etc. This cap is $300,000 no matter how bad the injury is or how long the person will suffer. If a jury awarded a brain injured child an award for the impact the injury was going to have over the child’s entire lifetime, and if that award exceeded $300,000, the jury award would be reduced to $300,000 by the judge after the trial. The jury is not told of this cap nor is the jury told that the judge will reduce the award. The insurance companies insisted, when this law was passed, that a jury not be told of the cap.

4. JURY NOT TOLD IF DEFENDANT DRIVER RECEIVED TICKET

Usually, in an automobile accident case, the defendant driver has received a ticket at the time of the accident from the investigating police officer. The jury is never told of this. Even if the defendant driver pleads guilty, the jury is not told.