SSDI Inadmissible in Lawsuit
Posted on Thu, May 10, 2012 @ 12:28 PM
A federal judge in New Jersey has excluded a disability finding by the Social Security Administration from evidence in a medical malpractice suit arising out of the same injury, lest the jury ascribe too much weight to it. Though agency decisions are public records, typically admissible under the federal evidence rules' hearsay exception, U.S. District Judge Renee Bumb ruled Wednesday, in Orber v. Jain, 10-cv-1674, that the potential prejudicial impact on the defendant doctors outweighs the probative value. Bumb cited a "lack of meaningful adversarial process with respect to the cause of Mrs. Orber's alleged disability" which "renders the SSA's conclusions on that issue unreliable."
SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY FINDING HELD INADMISSIBLE IN SUIT OVER SAME INJURY
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