Canandaigua, NY asked in Civil Litigation for New York

Q: Suing for intentional tort can I introduce evidence that he was convicted of harassment violation in the civil trial ?

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: Your question is a little unclear. I have several questions. Are you suing for an intentional tort? What tort? Is "he" the defendant? When was the harassment in relationship to the timing of the intentional tort? Who was harassed? Were the circumstances in any way similar to the intentional tort? And what relevance does the harassment have to the intentional tort? You may be able to introduce the evidence if it has some relevance to the intentional tort, but I would knee-jerk that they sound like different circumstances and a judge may find that probative value of the prior "conviction" is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice in your case. Although you might think the prior conviction shows the guy is a jerk, a judge would likely rule that your jury should only determine whether he committed an intentional tort based on the facts surrounding that tort. For example, someone may have been convicted of murder 20 years ago and been released from prison. If they get a in a car wreck after being released, the prior murder conviction doesn't mean they were at fault for the car wreck and shouldn't be used to show fault in the wreck...only the facts of the wreck would determine who has fault for the wreck.

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