Q: Hypothetically, could a person offset responsibility in a negligence case if they could prove they acted reasonably?
Say someone is in a car accident for which the responding officer deems them responsible and cites them.
At their court hearing, they present the printed results of an online poll where half of the (random, anonymous) respondents said they would have behaved the same way as the defendant in the events leading up to the accident, and the other half of respondents said they would have behaved in what turned out to be the legally correct way, thus avoiding the accident.
Would it be helpful to the defendant's case to present the results in court as an argument that they behaved reasonably, though incorrectly, since 50% of respondents said they would have behaved the same way?
A: Not at all. First it would be inadmissible second it isn't what the case is about. You have a good argument to make if you couched it in terms of believing it was safe to do what you did. Depends on what --hypothetically--someone has been charged with.If you were hurt you may have a claim--hypothetically. Contact a member of AzTLA for the county where the wreck happened and as them.
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