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What questions is a jury going to answer if your case has to go
to trial? I'm Dave Glatthorn; I'm an attorney in West Palm
Beach, exclusively representing injured people. And in our
system of justice, most cases do settle, but 10%, 15% actually
have to go to a jury trial. And you might be wondering, what
questions is a jury asked to answer on that jury verdict
form? Well, in Florida - assuming there's a question
asked about whose responsible for the accident - the first
question will be this: "Was the defendant (and that's the title,
that's the person who caused the injury) negligent?" The second
question will be: "Was the plaintiff (that is the person
bringing the lawsuit, the person that's injured). Was the
plaintiff negligent?" The third question will be (the jury, if
they answered yes to both of those questions) then they will
be asked to assign a percentage of responsibility of the
accident to each one of the individuals. To the injured
person, and to the person who caused the injury. The next
question you're going to have - in Florida - is a question about
whether or not the injured person has a permanent injury.
Now, in Florida, in order to obtain compensation for human
losses - that is pain. Pain you had in the past, pain you have
in the future. Disability you may have from a permanent
injury. And something called, "the loss of enjoyment of life"
- the inability to do those things that you enjoy. You have
to prove that you have a permanent injury. So, the next
question the jury has to answer is, "Did the individual (say
let's call her Mrs. Smith), did Mrs. Smith, suffer permanent
injury as a result of the accident that was sued on?" -
assuming the jury puts yes down there. The next question will
be, "What are the amount of medical bills occurred in the
past as a result of the negligence of the other party?"
The next question after that will be, "What are the amount of
medical bills to be occurred in the future?" If there is a
permanent injury, generally there's going to be medical
expenses into the future. The next question after that is, "If
there are lost wages involved, what is the amount of the lost
wages the person has suffered in the past?" And the second
question, but into the future. The final question will be about
human losses. And that is the unique function of the jury to
decide what's fair compensation for those things we don't
usually put a dollar figure on. Things such as pain - the pain
that you've gone through, the pain you'll go through in the
future. The disability that you have now, that you didn't have
before. And as I said before the loss of enjoyment of life. The
jury is instructed there is no exact standard of ascertaining
this, whatever is fair and reasonable should be awarded.
And the jury will be told whatever they say is fair, is
fair - whatever they say is reasonable, is reasonable. That
is an explanation of the jury verdict form. If you're been
injured in an accident, you're going to have a lot of questions
- you're going to have concerns. Call me, we have the answers to
your questions; we have solutions for your concerns.
659-1999. I'm Dave Glatthorn, I thank you
for watching this video!