What Does Hearsay Mean in Las Vegas, Nevada Personal Injury Cases?

Hearsay is basically a statement that was not made in the courtroom, but that someone wants to discuss while on the witness stand. So anytime you hear someone say, “you’ll never believe what Joe told me . . .”, Joe supposed statements would be called hearsay in a court of law. Since you could be making up gossip about Joe, the court wants to make sure this information is true. However, there are a lot of exceptions to this general rule that second hand information cannot come into a trial.

Chapter 51 of the Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”) governs hearsay and what statements are allowed to come during a trial. Including the basic hearsay rule, there are about 40 different sections to Chapter 51! Today, we are just going to go over the sections that come up frequently in personal injury cases.

In an example of an auto accident case, where our driver, Joe, is sitting in his car on his way to work, stopped for a red light. Zoe, who is driving up to the intersection where Joe is sitting, doesn’t realize the light has turned red and rear ends Joe’s car. Immediately after the accident, Zoe is startled and gets out of her car.

Making sure Joe is okay, Zoe goes over to Joe’s car and apologizes for causing the car accident. Zoe tells Joe that she was looking at a website on her phone and not paying attention to the light. Zoe’s statement immediately after the accident, could be argued to be “present sense impression” or an “excited utterance” and therefore not excluded by the hearsay rule. See NRS 51.085 and 51.095. It also turns out that there was also a witness to the accident, Keisha, who was walking her dog and saw the entire accident unfold. Keisha gives Joe her contact information and tells him that she will testify on his behalf.
 
Since Zoe has overheard what Keisha told Joe, Zoe starts to be concerned, since she was driving her parents’ car and doesn’t want to get in trouble. Once the police arrive, Zoe gets nervous and changes her story. Zoe tries to blame the accident on Joe, saying that he pulled out in front of her, causing the accident. Although not bleeding, Joe has sustained serious injury to his spinal column and requires months of medical treatment. Since Zoe will not accept responsibility for the accident, Joe’s personal injury case against Zoe goes to trial.

Before the case goes to trial, Joe’s personal injury lawyer takes Keisha’s deposition testimony. (See my previous blog article on depositions if you are unfamiliar with them).   However, when the time for trial arrives, Keisha has moved and has not left a forwarding address. Since Keisha is nowhere to be found, her statements made in her deposition can be heard by the jury. See NRS 51.055 and 51.325.

In this car accident, Joe’s family and friends are also allowed to testify as to his physical condition after the car accident. When Joe’s sister, Kate, gets on the witness stand, Kate can testify as to Joe’s statements concerning how Joe was feeling after the car wreck. See NRS 51.105. Relatedly, any statements Joe made to his medical treatment providers, would also be allowed in, at the time of trial. See 51.115. From the above scenario, you can see that there are a lot of exceptions to the general rule that out-of-court statements, “hearsay,” do not come into a trial.

Next time, we will discuss what to bring and what to expect in your initial meeting with your Las Vegas personal injury lawyer.