Will a judge throw out an allegedwitness’s testimony in court,if the accident report listed no witnesses?
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Will a judge throw out an allegedwitness’s testimony in court,if the accident report listed no witnesses?
Auto accident where there was a dispute over the color of the light in an intersection. There was a witness that saw the incident but the office that wrote the accident report wrote on the report, “NO WITNESSES”. I am going to small claims and I want to know if a judge will throw out a witness standing in front of him (yes the witness agreed to come to court) due to what the officer wrote.
Asked on December 13, 2010 under Accident Law, New York
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
It is not possible to predict how the judge will rule. However, the judge may question the witness and determine that the witness is credible and was inadvertently omitted from the police report. Under those circumstances, it would be reasonable to allow the witness to testify. The judge has to balance competing interests; here, the validity of the police report versus testimony that may be important in the case from a witness who was inadvertently omitted from the police report. Given these facts, it would be reasonable for the judge to allow the witness to testify.
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