{"id":1483,"date":"2015-06-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-22T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allenandallen.com\/understanding-virginias-dead-mans-act\/"},"modified":"2024-04-10T08:16:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T13:16:06","slug":"entendimiento-virginias-hombre-muerto-acto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allenandallen.com\/es\/blog\/understanding-virginias-dead-mans-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Comprensi\u00f3n de la "Ley del hombre muerto" de Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Virginia Rules of Evidence contain a detailed set of requirements that govern what kind of information may be considered by the jury when a personal injury case is tried in court.\u00a0 One such rule, derived from a statute commonly referred to as the \u201cDead Man\u2019s Act,\u201d applies when one of the parties to the lawsuit has died prior to the trial.[1]<\/a> It is important to understand how the Dead Man\u2019s Act works in such cases because it can change the type of evidence that the jury will be allowed to hear and consider.<\/p>\n

At common law (prior to the enactment of Virginia Code \u00a7 8.01-397), in a case in which either the plaintiff or the defendant died prior to trial, the surviving party was not permitted to testify in court.\u00a0The reasoning behind this rule was that it would be unfair for the surviving party to have the benefit of his own testimony when the deceased party is deprived of the opportunity to tell his or her version of the events.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 With the enactment of the Dead Man\u2019s Act, the General Assembly did away with the prohibition against receiving the testimony of the surviving party into evidence but in its place established two added requirements designed to ensure fairness to the deceased party.<\/p>\n

The first rule is that no judgment can be awarded against a deceased party based on the uncorroborated testimony of an adverse party or another interested party.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 The Virginia Supreme Court has explained that the level of corroboration required varies depending on the facts of each particular case.<\/p>\n

In general, corroborative evidence is evidence which tends to independently confirm and strengthen the testimony of the surviving party as to some material issue.[4]<\/a>\u00a0Corroborative evidence may be circumstantial, and it need not itself be sufficient to support a verdict for the surviving party.[5]<\/a>\u00a0If the judge at trial determines that the surviving party has not presented even a scintilla of corroborative evidence during the trial, the judge may instruct the jury not to consider the surviving\u2019s witness\u2019 testimony.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Note that in cases in which there was a \u201cconfidential relationship\u201d between the surviving witness and deceased party, a heightened degree of corroboration is required to support the testimony of the surviving witness.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 For example, in a medical malpractice case in which the physician-patient relationship existed between the deceased patient and the defendant physician, the court will require an added degree of corroboration of the testimony of the defendant physician due to the confidential relationship that existed between the parties at the time of the medical treatment at issue in the case.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

The second component of the Dead Man\u2019s Act provides that, regardless of whether the surviving witness testifies, prior statements or writings made by the deceased party may be admitted into evidence.[9]<\/a>\u00a0This rule is significant because, in the absence of the Dead Man\u2019s Act, such evidence would be subject to exclusion under the hearsay rule, which generally prevents out-of-court statements from being admitted into evidence at trial.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 In this way, the Dead Man\u2019s Act creates an exception to the normal rules of evidence in an effort to ensure that both sides of the story can be told where one party to the case is deceased.<\/p>\n

Types of civil lawsuits in which the Dead Man\u2019s Act might be applied \u00a0include personal injury suits in which the defendant driver has passed away before trial, or wrongful death actions in which the beneficiaries of a deceased individual seek to recover against the negligent defendant who caused the death.\u00a0 It is important for an attorney to understand the special evidentiary rules that apply under the Dead Man\u2019s Act in these types of cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/strong> David M. Irvine is an experienced trial attorney focusing his practice on personal injury law working\u00a0in the firm\u2019s Charlottesville, Virginia office. He has handled cases involving car accidents, catastrophic injuries and wrongful death and has litigated cases across the Commonwealth on behalf of deserving clients. David has published on topics related to litigation in wrongful death cases and trial procedure and regularly speaks on litigation topics.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/a>[1] See<\/em> Va. Code \u00a7 8.01-397; Va. S. Ct. R. 2:804(b)(5).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[2] See Diehl v. Butts<\/em>, 255 Va. 482 (1998).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[3] See<\/em> Va. Code \u00a7 8.01-397; Va. S. Ct. R. 2:804(b)(5).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[4] See Rice v. Charles<\/em>, 260 Va. 157 (2000).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[5] Keith v. Lulofs<\/em>, 283 Va. 768 (2012); Penn v. Manns<\/em>, 221 Va. 88 (1980).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[6] Johnson v. Raviotta<\/em>, 264 Va. 27 (2002).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[7] See Vaughn v. Shank<\/em>, 248 Va. 224 (1994).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[8] See Diehl<\/em>, 255 Va. at 489.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[9] See<\/em> Va. Code \u00a7 8.01-397; Va. S. Ct. R. 2:804(b)(5).<\/p>\n

<\/a>[10] See <\/em>Va. S. Ct. R. 2:802.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Reglas de Evidencia de Virginia contienen un conjunto detallado de requisitos que rigen qu\u00e9 tipo de informaci\u00f3n puede ser considerada por el jurado cuando se juzga un caso de lesiones personales ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding Virginia\u2019s \u201cDead Man\u2019s Act\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The \u201cDead Man\u2019s Act\u201d applies when one of the parties to the lawsuit has died prior to the trial.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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