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Why is your credibility so important in your trial? Would you like to learn the answer?
Come join me as I share with you this great information. Hi. I'm Gerry Oginski. I'm a
New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney practicing law here
in the state of New York. It's a little bit noisy out here today in Great Neck. A lot
of things going on: gardeners going by, trucks going by. But I wanted to share this quick
information with you and explain to you why your credibility is the key component of your
entire case. Remember, you are coming in claiming you suffered significant injury as a result
of somebody else's carelessness. You are claiming that your injuries -- your harms, your losses
-- were caused by somebody's negligence. And now you are asking the jury to believe that
what you are saying is true. You're asking the jury to understand and to recognize that
the harms and the injuries that you suffered now affect you on a daily basis, that your
injuries are disabling you and preventing you from doing daily activities -- your life's
activities. Now, if for some reason you happen to tell a little white lie, you know what
can happen? At the very end of the case, the judge is going to give the jury an instruction.
It's called in legal terms 'falsus in uno' and that's a fancy legal term which means
if you find that a witness has testified falsely about one particular thing you have the right
to disregard not just that one little thing, but you have the right to disregard everything
that witness has told you. Now imagine that. Let's say for example you have just fibbed
or lied about one little thing during the course of the trial. And you were asked questions
by the defense attorney and they caught you in a contradiction or they caught you in a
little lie. Well guess what? That one little fib, that one little lie, that one little
contradiction can destroy your entire case. And the reason is because the jury will be
told you have the absolute right to disregard this witness' entire testimony if you believe
that they have testified falsely about one single thing. And that one single thing can
be something so insignificant, having nothing to do with the facts of your particular case.
So the reality is that your credibility is everything in your particular case. And if
you happen to tell that one little contradiction, that one little lie, that one little fib,
it can ruin your entire case. So why do I share this great information with you? I share
it with you just to give you an insight and an understanding into what goes on in the
litigation process during the course of a trial. This is one particular legal instruction
that the judge will give and the defense will definitely ask for. And the defense will definitely
comment on during closing arguments if they find that you have lied about one little thing.
I recognize you're watching this because you probably have questions of your own about
your own medical malpractice or accident or even wrongful death case. And if your matter
happened here in the state of New York and you do have legal questions, what I encourage
you to do is pick up the phone and call me. I can answer your legal questions. This is
something that I do every single day and I welcome your call. You can reach me at 516-487-8207
or by email at Gerry@Oginski-law.com. Well that's it for today's quick video. I'm Gerry
Oginski, have a wonderful day!