Many times in a Mississippi personal injury case involving a motor vehicle accident, the most compelling potential evidence involves prior accident or near misses. These prior near misses or actual accidents can be compelling because they can provide evidence of both the danger associated with a location of an accident and the defendant’s knowledge of this potential hazard. Because Mississippi courts recognize the potential power of such evidence, it may only be used in limited situations where the past accident or near miss is substantially similar to the motor vehicle accident that is at issue in the pending Mississippi personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit.
A skilled and experienced personal injury attorney will typically conduct a detailed investigation to search for past accidents and then build as compelling a case as is possible for the admissibility of that past accident or near miss. The case of Irby v. Travis, 935 So. 2d 884 (Miss. 2006) provides a primer on how Mississippi courts analyze the issue of the similarity between a past near miss and an accident that is the subject of a pending Mississippi personal injury lawsuit.
In the Irby case in Holmes County, the defendants were a railroad and its locomotive engineer who were sued for wrongful death following a train’s collision with the deceased car. The appellate court reversed the trial court’s admission into evidence of a prior near miss accident at the railroad crossing because it was not substantially similar to the accident in the train accident victim’s wrongful death lawsuit. The court specifically relied on the following factual distinctions:
(1) the accidents involved trains traveling in different directions;
(2) after the 1994 incident and before the accident in this lawsuit, there had been extensive tree-cutting;
(3) the driver in the 1994 accident drove up on the tracks at the crossing without stopping, while the deceased in the pending case drove up to the tracks, stopped, backed up and stopped to allow a farm tractor to cross the tracks, and then drove up on the tracks;
(4) the 1994 incident occurred in September while the incident in the pending lawsuit occurred in May; and
(5) the 1994 incident occurred in the late afternoon while the accident at issue occurred in the late morning.
When one looks at this list of factual distinctions that influenced the court, it should be clear that courts are extremely cautious about admitting this type of evidence. One might wonder why the accidents occurring in different months or occurring in the morning as opposed to the afternoon is relevant. However, this shows how difficult it can be to persuade a court to admit the potential damning evidence of prior near miss accidents.
There are cases where evidence of near accidents may be admissible for the purpose of showing the dangerous character of a place and to show notice thereof to the person in control. Miss. R. Evid. 401, 402. On the other hand, the fact of a near miss or a past collision, in and of itself, proves very little and may be quite prejudicial. Miss. R. Evid. 403. The fact that an accident almost occurs at a particular location does not necessarily imply any fault or neglect on the part of the person in control of the premises. Therefore, the fact that there were near misses does not necessarily prove negligence. As was the case here, a near miss does not really prove negligence, even though a subsequent serious accident occurs.
The bottom line is that courts have many rules that exclude evidence that an ordinary person would consider the most compelling evidence of fault. Experienced Mississippi personal injury attorneys understand these evidentiary standards and the best strategies for persuading a court to consider such evidence. Although the Irby, case involved a train collision with a car, the principle applies equally to SUV accidents, tractor-trailer collisions, bicycle accidents, motorcycle crashes and even pedestrian accidents.
If you or a close family member has been the victim of a motor vehicle accident anywhere in Mississippi, the legal team at Barrett Law PLLC have roots that extend back over 75 years assisting motor vehicle accident victims who are injured by the negligence of others. We are committed to helping accident victims improve the quality of their lives and helping prevent future auto accidents in Mississippi so call our offices today at 662-834-2376.