Do you ride motorcycles? If so, the overwhelming odds are that you follow the road laws, don’t ride dangerously, and avoid risky behavior as much as possible to give you the highest level of safety. However, that may not be how the jury sees you. Most motorcyclists are not bad people, but there’s no denying that the actions of a very select few have tarnished the reputations of riders in the eyes of the general public.
This often manifests itself in trials in the form of “jury bias,” which is essentially a jury’s pre-disposition in favor of a particular opinion at the outset of a case. Overcoming this problem can be difficult, but a skilled attorney has ways of negating this issue to help you get the verdict you need after you have been injured in a motorcycle accident. Let’s take a look at how.
BIAS SOURCES
The vast majority of biker myths and misconceptions come from a wide variety of sources, and effectively proving those sources incorrect or misleading is the first step in showing someone the truth about a motorcycle accident case. Bias can be found in many different ways:
- Law enforcement, who assume a motorcycle rider is being reckless, even without evidence
- Witnesses, who assume a loud engine means reckless behavior
- News media, who almost universally imply a rider was at fault in an accident
- Doctors who speculate the cause of an accident without evidence
- Insurance adjustors who refuse to resolve a case fairly, knowing they can pin at least some blame on the rider purely because of jury bias
You may not realize it, but when you think about it, some of these things may sound logical, and that’s the reason why we get jurors who cannot judge a biker accident case fairly, regardless of whether or not they admit it openly.
JURY SELECTION
Your attorney will be responsible for choosing the right jury to try your case. This means weeding through dozens of people to find ones that will give your case a fair chance and try to put aside any pre-conceived notions that they may have about motorcycle riders in general. While some jurors can and are more than willing to put aside their pre-conceived notions in the spirit of justice, others cannot do so for any number of these listed reasons.
LET EVIDENCE TALK
Once a jury has been chosen, an attorney really only has one option: review the evidence thoroughly and let it tell the story. While most car accident reports tend to be fairly accurate, motorcycle accident reports tend to be far less unbiased and fair to the rider. A talented lawyer will be skeptical about the police report, and use all available evidence to point out errors in the investigation which show that the rider in fact was not at fault. Evidence is important to all cases, but it’s extremely vital to motorcycle cases, and a good Tulsa motorcycle accident attorney will review all available evidence with an eye for skepticism in order to overcome bias against their client.
If you have been injured in a motorcycle accident, contact Richardson Richardson Boudreaux, PLLC today at 918-265-1780 to request a free case evaluation.