If the plaintiff does not end up settling with the defendant, the personal injury case goes to trial and will be judged by the jury, who will take part in all of the proceedings regarding the evidence administration, including witness hearings and the testimonies of the parties involved.

The jury instructions provided by the judge

In order to ensure that the law is abided and applied thoroughly, the judge will provide the jurors with jury instructions, which comprise explanations of the specific laws that apply to the case, as well as of the law of negligence and will make a clear request to the judges to pass a verdict not being swayed by human emotions, only in accordance to the law, even if they do not like it.

Risks of a personal injury trial

A Denver injury attorney is aware of the fact that jurors can be influenced by the way the information is presented to them, therefore they are interested in finding an emotional impact in the story of their clients.

Points of interest for the jurors that may turn them in favor of the plaintiff can refer to:

• a permanent disability caused by the defendant, or
• the fact that the defendant has lied in front of them about the circumstances in which the accident was produced, or if the witnesses provided by him should also be found to have been lying;
• if the defendant has hurt an innocent child or
• Whether the plaintiff (the victim) has a nice and respectable family and performs his social and familial duty.
• Some pictures which may reveal the extent of the injury of the plaintiff.

Complete objectivism in reaching a verdict can be threatened when Denver personal injury attorneys decide to use one of the subtle and effective “weapons” previously described, which is why the judge constantly stresses to the jurors, at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the trial the importance of staying impartial to the parties’ situation.

How jurors decide on the amount of money the plaintiff deserves

Seeing that the jury has access to all the exhibits presented in the courtroom, as well as they are allowed to take notes, together with the judge’s instructions, they can more easily form an informed opinion on how the verdict should pin out, the only thing left to do being to discuss is how much the plaintiff should get paid with.

In deciding the amount of money for the compensation, the jury takes into account two things. The first one is that the receipts or the documents and the evidence which can be easily quantified such as hospital bills, or the work which the plaintiff could not do due to injury, will be awarded by the jurors almost without questioning. When it comes to moral damage, however, calculating the amount of suffering someone has been through is fairly impossible, which is why the jurors make use of empathy: they will place themselves in the plaintiff’s shoes and decide on an amount they believe they would have been happy with, should the accident have happened to them.