Prejudice can get in the way of justice | October 11 2010

Prejudice can get in the way of justice



The Maine Supreme Court has upheld a jury verdict in Superior Court finding in favor of the defendant in a motor vehicle accident case in which the plaintiffs and their two children were injured.

There was no dispute about how the accident took place. It seems that the defendant was exiting a parking lot and making a left-hand turn onto the street. Because a truck coming from his left blocked his view of other oncoming traffic, including plaintiff’s car, defendant pulled out right into plaintiff’s path resulting in the collision which caused injury to the four occupants.

Maine law is clear that it is the responsibility of a driver entering a highway to ascertain that the way is clear before proceeding, so it would appear that defendant was at fault in this case. Nevertheless the jury ruled in his favor, and the Supreme Court affirmed on the ground that the jury was not required to believe the plaintiff’s version of the accident, even though undisputed, and that the jury might have concluded that plaintiff was following too closely or might have been speeding, even though there was no evidence of either of these things.

Jury bias against plaintiffs in personal injury cases in Maine is well known as evidenced by instances in which juries find in favor of defendants even in rear-end collision cases.

In the case discussed here the names of the plaintiffs, Shelly Ma and Nghia Lam, suggest a reason for even more than the usual anti-plaintiff jury bias.