Evidence of plaintiff negligence must be tied to injury

Federal Courts

By Jay S. Judge

Jay S. Judge, a name partner of Judge, James, Hoban & Fisher LLC in Park Ridge, is a defense attorney who specializes in trials, appeals and insurance coverage. Judge graduated with honors from The John Marshall Law School and served as editor-in-chief of the school’s law review.

Posted May 13, 2019 3:23 PM

Today’s case involves the Indiana Comparative Fault Act and the question of whether it was proper for the jury to hear evidence of the plaintiff’s failure to wear a hard hat while felling trees, a fact the defendant used to show the plaintiff’s assumption of risk or comparative fault for the nearly fatal accident.In Webber v. Butner, 2019 WL 1970306 (7th Cir. 2019), plaintiff Johnny Webber was severely injured while cutting down trees for his friend Roger Butner. Webber was struck by a dead branch. He was …

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