This depends entirely on context of the case...the situation. Police reports are admitted into evidence all the time...as are invoices evidencing costs for repair.
Well that judge lie to me. because he absolutely told me that I couldn't say how much the damages were to my vehicle. So then when the lawyer says that there was no damage to look at the pictures. And I don't come back with an amount of how much those damages cost the jury just thinks that I'm trying to hide the cost. Which to me is b*******.
Also the biggest problem with this type of a case is that you cannot bring direct action against the insurance companies in third-party accidents because Texas doesn't allow it. So far example if I wanted to dispute the carfax report that he brought up I could have possibly said who do you think provides the information to the Carfax reports the insurance companies do. But I can't say that because I can't sue the insurance company and then the rule for 11 prevents me from making statements about liability insurance. I don't know I think I should have just swallowed my pride and taking the money that they offered me and just been done with it.
I don't understand enough about your case, generally, to comment. But generally speaking, you can get in estimates or invoices with respect to damages...my firm handles a good bit of commercial construction litigation, and I'm not sure how we'd prove up (or defend against) damages without the ability to get those records in. Having said that, my partner is the litigation guru...I handle mostly transactional matters.
With regard to estimates it's my understanding that I would need a witness to corroborate the bay in fact did right this estimate. That I couldn't just admit an estimate without the defense being able to cross-examine the person who actually wrote it. Otherwise it's nothing more than hearsay.
Correct...the document itself is hearsay..there are ways around that, including business records affidavits that don't require the witness actually being with you in court. But again...I don't know enough about your case, in particular.
I'm not mad that I lost the case. It is more about my ego. Without the law, that dude would never ever be able to beat me in an argument. That's what gets under my skin. Lol
Right that's what I was mentioning before, proper procedures have to be followed at the court level in order for it to be accepted, if not... Even a shitty lawyer can have just about anything thrown out. Like an example I saw recently were actual medical records, party A didn't submit them correctly into evidence (no lawyer), and Party B threw it all out since it wasn't done correctly.
Yes, (without a lawyer) the money was the best option, now you have nothing and I'm sure the lawyer they had to hire/on retainer probably was able to get a portion of your settlement since they won the case ... So maybe you cost the insurance company some money, it's a drop in the bucket (well less than) for them, and the lawyer probably got a bonus etc. to apply towards his/her new sports car, or billable hours etc (the lawyer and insurance won) Unfortunately Pride isn't worth **** if you lost even more money... ie lost because $2k was there for the taking just by showing up. Next time get a lawyer, this isn't Law & Order, on TV they make it look easy/fun for the audience, in RL you'll unfortunately just look silly. I guess it's good to share for others... But sadly you should have posted this before court, and we probably could have tried to sway you towards a lawyer/legal advice... But being that you said you were seeking $4k+ and a lawyer might charge $2k (depending on case/hours etc etc and you had the offer for $2k... The $2k settlement was probably worth your pride since you weren't prepped on how shitty Court is
Yeah if you don't have an expert witness that can testify to an evaluation of your vehicle and you don't have the person who actually worked on your vehicle to do the repair so that you can get your estimate repairs admitted then you might as well not show up to court. My problem was was that by the time I realized everyone a piece of my evidence was going to be hearsay I didn't have a chance to subpoena Witnesses and that kind of thing. I think you can win in court on a pro se case but to do it you can't skip steps like not subpoena in Witnesses and things like that. I doubt I'll ever do it again but if I do I know better what I need to do.
My original defense was better than what I went with. I was going to submit the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Salvage non-repairable manual. But I was told that the estimate for my vehicle would not be admitted in court without a witness. So I scrapped it. In hindsight what I should have done was subpoena the lady at Mercedes-Benz of Sugarland so I can get the estimate admitted. And then have the Salvage manual admitted. And then I would dare the judge to rule against me on presenting the guidelines for salvage vehicles, which includes What insurances have to do when a vehicle damage exceeds the actual cash value. If the lawyer would have objected to it and the judge sustain that objection I would have asked the judge if I could approach the bench and I'd have told him right then and there that I'm appealing this case and then I would sit down and I'd say the plaintiff rests. Which I know that that's the way it will probably would have went.
I’ve represented myself in small claims court and won my deposit back from a slumlord after they claimed I violated my lease. I also beat a smoking ticket representing myself in transit court, in which the judge said my demeanor and testimony was persuasive enough to drop the charges. Ipso Facto Prima Facie Voir Dire
Did the slumlord have an attorney? Still impressive, but I can't see you winning a case about lease violation if the slumlord had an attorney, unless you really really know how to admit evidence. That was my biggest problem with my case. The guy I went up against wasn't close to being as smart as I was, but my problem is that I wanted to win my case without calling witnesses. Also, I made the mistake of thinking that because copart.com was a market reports site that I could get it entered into evidence based on the 803 (17) exception. The problem you can't admit it if the attorney wants to do a "questioning of it" then he can basically point out that it isn't relevant to the case because the car isn't exactly like the case you have. His arguments were pretty dumb and most of the stuff he said didn't make a lick of difference to his case. Had I been prepared and called a witness ahead of time, I certainly would have beaten him. Anyway, it doesn't matter.
