Any serious issues from your past, including your criminal record, will likely come up during any Tulsa, Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit. However, a lot of circumstances will determine if the situation will truly damage a legitimate Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit.
FAQ: Oklahoma Personal Injury Lawsuit
Personal injury claims involve great amounts of discovery, which is where the plaintiff’s side and the defendant’s request answers to questions and the production of evidence.
A plaintiff cannot progress in an Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit without getting replies to these inquiries and procuring the necessary evidence. Otherwise, his attorney will be unable to ask the necessary questions to be successful at trial.
The same is true for the defendant; he cannot mount a good defense at trial unless he prepares by launching this discovery process beforehand.
During this mutual discovery process, one of the routine questions asked will be whether the plaintiff has ever been convicted of a crime, and if yes, what type of crime. Depending on the length of time since the conviction, the plaintiff’s Tulsa personal injury attorney will decide how to handle this routine question.
Later, at a deposition, the plaintiff may be asked this question again. His Tulsa personal injury attorney will advise him how to answer.
Additional Information
The defendant’s attorney may attempt to use the plaintiff’s criminal record to impeach him if he tries to take the stand as a witness during a trial for the Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit.
Impeachment means that an attorney from the opposing side, when cross-examining the witness on the witness stand, will try to bring up something from the each witness’ past to make the jury believe the witness is a liar.
Under the Oklahoma Evidence Code, an attorney may impeach a witness if the witness was convicted of a very serious crime that is punishable by death or imprisonment of more than one year, or if the crime for which he was convicted involved dishonesty or a false statement.
However, an attorney cannot impeach a witness using a crime if the crime is more than 10 years old.
Free Consultation: Tulsa Personal Injury Attorney
If you are concerned about the effect that your criminal record could have on a potential Oklahoma personal injury lawsuit, contact your Tulsa personal injury attorney at the Personal Injury Law Office of Tulsa today.
For a free, no-obligation consultation, call (918) 924-5528 or send your question using the email form on this page.
