Car accident trials can be an overwhelming experience. The overwhelming nature of these accidents can be compounded by the presence of multiple defendants. If an individual wants to know more about the Chattanooga car accident trials with multiple defendants and what to expect from the process, they should confer with a brilliant car accident attorney. A capable lawyer could work towards a positive outcome for them.
The Process of Litigation with Multiple Defendants
During Chattanooga car accident trials with multiple defendants, each defendant has the right to have a different attorney. If there are three defendants, there could have three different defense attorneys. The order stays basically the same; it is just a longer lineup. Each defendant’s attorney gets to speak, so there can be more defendant’s attorneys speaking after the jury selection, giving opening statements, calling witnesses, cross-examining witnesses, and giving closing statements. The plaintiff still gets only one opening statement, and then three defense attorneys give three separate opening statements. When the plaintiff calls a witness to the stand, the plaintiff examines them once and the three defense attorneys get to cross-examine that witness.
It opens up a lot more opportunities to tear down the plaintiff’s case when there are multiple defendants. It also presents the opportunity to blame more people. The jury is not just choosing between the plaintiff and the defendant but the plaintiff and multiple defendants. Oftentimes, there will be defendants pointing their fingers at each other. In those situations, the plaintiff is less likely to be blamed for the incident, the car wreck, and the damages that resulted.
How Can Having Multiple Defendants Influence the Outcome of a Case
Having Chattanooga car accident trials with multiple defendants can influence the outcome of the case in a good way or a bad way. Multiple defendants could mean several different defense attorneys combining their efforts to tear down the plaintiff’s case and to make arguments against the plaintiff’s recovery. That is a danger. The good effect that it can have on the outcome of the case is it makes the jury more comfortable. Since multiple defendants would be able to pay the amount that they award and, they might be less sympathetic to the defendants. It also gives them a wider array of bad behavior to choose from and opens the plaintiff to more arguments about who caused the wreck, and who should have to pay for the injuries and losses.
Health Privacy Laws in Cases with Multiple Defendants
Very seldom does a case involve the health privacy laws of a defendant. Each defendant would take the stand individually. There would be only one defendant on the stand at a time. The important medical aspects of the plaintiff’s injuries would be available to all of the defendants, so health privacy laws do not have any different effect when there are multiple defendants versus only one defendant.
How the Defense May Present Their Argument
In Chattanooga car accident trials with multiple defendants, a car accident lawyer can make arguments with more than one person if at fault for a wreck. For example, if a truck’s brakes fail and cause a wreck, it might be the driver’s fault, it might be the driver’s supervisor’s fault since they failed to allow the driver to get the brakes checked, or it may be the maintenance company’s fault who was supposed to have fixed the brakes and failed to do so. Additionally, it may be that a maintenance company failed to fix the brakes but the company, the driver, and the driver’s supervisor all knew that the brakes were not working correctly. In that case, it is the maintenance company’s fault, the drivers’ fault, and the driver’s supervisor’s fault. Lawyers have to tell a cohesive story that people can understand that illustrate how more than one defendant could be at fault for one event.
Important Aspects to Keep in Mind About Car Crash Trials
Car accident litigators want everyone to know that jury trials are a regulatory process where regular citizens, people who are not government officials and who do not have a stake in the process other than driving on the roads, get to decide what the rules of the roads are. Jurors decide whether a person did wrong and whether a person should have to pay when something bad happens. If juries hold people accountable for causing wrecks and make them pay significant sums for the injuries that result from those wrecks, then that makes the roads safer because it discourages everybody from dangerous driving. If jurors do not hold bad actors accountable or if they rendered low verdicts, then it encourages everybody to engage in more dangerous driving. The jury trial has a very important function to play in keeping the roads safe.
How a Chattanooga Car Accident Attorney Could Navigate a Trial Involving Multiple Defendants
A car accident lawyer needs to be skilled at telling the plaintiff’s story and telling the story of a defendant’s bad behavior in a way the jury can understand. It is very important that the plaintiff’s lawyer make it difficult for the multiple defendants to confuse the jury. The plaintiff’s lawyer has to focus on clarity and make sure the information gets to the jury in a very understandable and memorable way. If an individual wants to know more about navigating Chattanooga car accident trials with multiple defendants, they should consult a well-practiced attorney that could answe their questions and guide them.
