How jury bias affects a Texas train accident case:
All people possess some degree of bias in some aspect of their worldview. For some people, the default assumption is that all lawyers are greedy. For others, all doctors want to do is treat your illness rather than cure it. Biases like these are rarely based in reality, but they are nonetheless pervasive and strong. Unfortunately, a large percentage of Texas juries have strong negative feelings about train accident cases, and in this article, we will explain how this bias works, how railroad company lawyers exploit it, and how you'll need a lawyer to overcome this bias and win.
Questions Answered on This Page:
- How does jury bias impact train accident cases?
- How can I prepare to face a jury in my train accident case?
- Why are juries biased against train accident victims?
How juries view railroad accident cases.
Despite the fact that Texans are from diverse backgrounds and walks of life, most Texans tend to be fairness-minded. They don't like seeing someone get taken advantage of and they don't like lawlessness. But, of equal importance, most Texans abhor the idea of someone doing something foolish, hurting themselves, and then trying to get a payday out of it. This feeling is something we agree with, and we only advocate on behalf of people who are hurt through someone else's carelessness, not their own.
But since trains have their own special property that only they can use, this leads many jurors to the default assumption that anyone hurt by a train must have done it to themselves. And when such a feeling is present in the back of a juror's mind, this causes them to think that someone is trying to pull a fast one when a person injured by a train files suit.
The problem with this position is that railroads hurt people all the time, through no fault of their victims. Railroad warning signals and half-arm barriers fail to engage, engineers forget to sound their horns, trains break the speed limit, etc. Suffice it to say, there are many instances each and every year where railroad employees hurt or kill perfectly innocent people, yet those victims and their families are confronted by juries whose default position is that the train's engineer didn't do anything wrong.
What can be done about jury bias in a train accident case.
The way we see it, a lawyer can either complain about how some jurors just aren't fair, or they can acknowledge this challenge and develop a strategy to win in spite of it. Our attorneys firmly believe that juries are not fools. Biased, perhaps, but not at all simple-minded. And as reasonable people, juries can be convinced that a case has merit (when it actually does), and said juries can and will award fair compensation, but only if the lawyer presenting the case first appreciates the bias and then helps break it down in the mind of the juror before presenting the facts of the case, and that is exactly the approach that our attorneys preach.
How railroad defense lawyers use this bias against you.
The lawyers who represent railroads will try to use jury bias to their advantage. They will try to portray the claims of a perfectly innocent victim as someone who brought their injuries on themselves. They will try to foster ignorance and misguided notions of "money for nothing," when, in fact, the employees of the railroad they represent legitimately caused another person's harm through their negligent conduct.
Naturally, this must be stopped, and it takes a good train accident attorney to put a stop to it.
Call Grossman Law Offices Today:
Our attorneys at Grossman Law Offices have been investigating and litigating railroad accidents for years. We most recently handled a case in which a young boy lost a leg when he was run over by a train and we were able to get the jury to overlook its bias and accept the railroad's negligence for allowing the boy to trespass so close to the tracks.
If you'd like to learn how we can devise a strategy for overcoming jury preconceptions in your case, then call us now for a free consultation at (855) 326-0000 (toll free).
Other articles about train accidents you might find helpful:
- What Are the Most Common Causes of Trains Accidents?
- How the Federal Tort Claims Act Can Affect Your Train Accident Injury Case
- How Can a Train Accident Reconstructionist Help Your Case?
