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Mental Injury Cases – Closing Argument – Causation

Your New Jersey Personal Injury Law Firm May Use Analogies During Closing Argument

Causation themes

After the conclusion of trial testimony, each party’s lawyer presents a closing argument to the jury.  This is the time to summarize all the key legal and factual issues, including all the mental and emotional injury and damages you have endured and the causation of those injuries.

In many cases, this causation argument involves the legal concept that a defendant takes a victim as that defendant finds the victim. What this means, is that if you have some pre-existing condition that makes you more likely to suffer a greater injury than an average person would suffer, you are nonetheless entitled to recover damages for any exacerbation of that condition.

Two examples

  1. As an analogy, your New Jersey personal injury law firm can suggest an example of a farmer transporting a truck full of eggs when rear-ended by a large truck.  Of course all of the eggs break, but the truck driver cannot claim that had the farmer been transporting golf balls instead, there would be no damage.

    A plaintiff with some pre-existing condition is more like an egg than a golf ball. He is more susceptible to injury, but that doesn’t make the defendant any less liable.

  2. A second example that may help the jury understand the causation argument is a vase that has a hairline crack from an earlier fall. The crack exists, but the vase can still hold water.  However, if the vase falls again, it is likely to shatter.  Perhaps it would not have shattered but for the initial crack, but the fact remains that it was not yet shattered.

    So too, may a plaintiff be particularly vulnerable due to an earlier incident.  The second incident, the accident in question, may have caused the plaintiff to no longer be functional.

The closing argument is where the plaintiff’s attorney weaves together the story for the jury. Gerald Clark, attorney at an experienced New Jersey personal injury law firm, knows how to convey to the jury the law and facts that allow you to recover the maximum damage award.  Mr. Clark’s office number is (877) 288-9247. Call today for a free consultation.

 

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