Insurance coverage - Next Generation Bar Exam
- A defendant denies owning the truck involved in a crash. The plaintiff offers the defendant's insurance policy covering the truck. For what purpose is the policy admissible?
- To prove ownership or control of the truck. FRE 411 does not bar insurance evidence offered for a purpose other than fault.
- Under FRE 411, for what purposes may evidence of liability insurance be admitted?
- Purposes such as proving a witness's bias, agency, ownership, or control. The listed purposes are examples, not an exclusive list.
- In a negligence suit, the plaintiff offers evidence that the defendant carried an unusually large liability policy, to suggest the defendant expected to cause harm. How should the court rule?
- Exclude the evidence under FRE 411. It is offered to prove wrongful conduct, the forbidden purpose.
- What tool may a court use when insurance evidence is admitted for a permitted purpose?
- A limiting instruction under FRE 105. The court may also exclude it under FRE 403 if unfair prejudice substantially outweighs its probative value.
- A defense expert testifies in a tort case. The plaintiff seeks to show the expert is employed by the defendant's liability insurer. For what purpose is the evidence admissible?
- To show the expert's bias. Bias of a witness is an expressly permitted purpose under FRE 411.
- Under FRE 411, for what purpose is evidence of liability insurance inadmissible?
- To prove whether the person acted negligently or otherwise wrongfully. The rule applies to both the existence and the absence of insurance.
- What is the policy basis for FRE 411?
- Insurance is weak evidence of fault and may lead jurors to decide on improper grounds. Jurors may inflate damages against an insured party or excuse an uninsured one.
- What is the status under FRE 411 of evidence that a defendant lacked liability insurance, offered to show the defendant drove carefully?
- It is inadmissible, because the absence of insurance is offered to prove careful conduct, the one purpose Rule 411 forbids. The rule excludes evidence that a person was or was not insured.