Evidence Flashcards
Relevance
Evidence is relevant if it has “any tendency to make a fact” either “more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” FED. R. EVID. 401 (as amended December 1, 2011). “Relevant evidence is admissible,” unless it is inadmissible pursuant to some other rule. FED. R. EVID. 402.
Subsequent Remedial Measures
However, evidence of the policy change is nonetheless inadmissible. Rule 407 of the Federal Rules of Evidence provides that “[w]hen measures are taken that would have made an earlier injury or harm less likely to occur, evidence of the subsequent measures is not admissible to prove negligence.” FED. R. EVID. 407.
Offer to Settle
Evidence of the hospital’s offer to settle with the woman may be relevant to a determination of its negligence because this evidence has some tendency to make it more probable that the hospital engaged in negligent conduct. FED. R. EVID. 401. However, the Federal Rules of Evidence bar evidence that a party “furnish[ed] or promis[ed] or offer[ed] . . . a valuable consideration in compromising or attempting to compromise the [disputed] claim.” FED. R. EVID. 408. Rule 408 excludes settlement offers and statements made during settlement negotiations. Evidence of offers to settle “disputed claim[s]”is excluded based on “the promotion of the public policy favoring the compromise and settlement of disputes. ”FED.R.EVID. 408 advisory committee’s note.
Offer to pay medical expenses
Evidence of the man’s offer to pay the woman’s medical expenses is probably relevant, but the court should nonetheless exclude the evidence. Federal Rule 409 precludes admission of “[e]vidence of furnishing, promising to pay, or offering to pay medical . . . expenses resulting from an injury . . . to prove liability for the injury.” FED.R.EVID. 409. Such evidence is excluded because “such payment or offer is usually made from humane impulses and . . . to hold otherwise would tend to discourage assistance to the injured person. ”FED.R.EVID. 409 advisory committee’s note (quoting 20 A.L.R. 2d 291, 293). Unlike Rule 408, Rule 409 does not require that the statement be made in response to a disputed claim.
Rape Shield
In any “civil or criminal proceeding involving alleged sexualmisconduct,” the “Rape Shield” rule of the Federal Rules of Evidence generally bars the admission of “evidence offered to prove that a victim engaged in other sexual behavior.”FED.R.EVID. 412(a).The purpose of the rule is “to safeguard the alleged victim against the invasion of privacy, potential embarrassment and sexual stereotyping that is associated with public disclosure of intimate sexual details and the infusion of sexual innuendo into thefact finding process.”FED.R.EVID. 412 advisory committee’s note.
However, in civil cases, Federal Rule of Evidence 412 permits the admission of otherwise inadmissible evidence of an alleged victim’s sexual behavior “if its probative value substantially outweighs the danger of harm to any victim.” FED.R.EVID. 412(b)(2).
