Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: accident case

Yes, a defendant will be given some leeway to get some general background information, and also be permitted to ask about prior accidents, injuries, etc.

One part of a personal injury case that a plaintiff has to prove is "causation" - namely, was the accident the cause of the injury that the plaintiff is suing for.

Discovery of past accidents and medical records might disclose that the plaintiff's injury or condition was pre-existing or the result of something else.

Aggravation of a pre-existing injury is a differnt case than arguing that an accident was the sole cause of the injury.

Also, prior convictions such as embezzlement,perjury and fraud go directly to the issue of plaintiff's credibility and would be admissible to impeach the plaintiff at trial.

Finally, as someone else noted, in order to pick a fair jury free of bias, it becomes necessary to know a little history about the plaintiff.

Re: accident case

It may be legal to inquire into a persons past in a civil matter so long as it is related ot the case at hand.

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Re: accident case

Yes! In an accident case, a defendant (the person being sued) has a substantial amount of leeway to delve into the Plaintiff's past history.

For example, if a plaintiff has injured his back and blames it solely on the defendant, the defendant is entitled to discover whether the plaintiff has sustained similar injuries in the past. If it turns out that the plaintiff has injured his back on four prior occasions, a jury will be more inclined to find that Plaintiff's back injury was not caused by defendant but was pre-existing.

In addition, any felony or misdemeanor may be used against a plaintiff in a civil case at trial. This is not so in a criminal case where there are special constitutional considerations.

Moreover, a defendant is entitled to a jury which can be "fair and impartial". A defendant is allowed to ask personal questions about the plaintiff (employment, nationality, age, etc.) so that jurors who have similar backgrounds and might be unfairly sympathetic to the plaintiff can be excluded.