ADMISSIBILITY OF POLICE OFFICER OPINIONS IN A CRASH REPORT

If you have been injured in a car accident and the police issued a report, you may wonder if you can use that report in a lawsuit. Talk with an auto accident attorney in Houston for answers.

As a preeminent rated personal injury lawyer with over 35 years of experience, I will say parts of the report probably will be usable in court.

Every day in Texas, many people are injured or killed in car accidents, and a driver’s negligence causes the crash.

A Texas crash report is generally admitted into evidence in a personal injury trial as a “public record.” But, because the crash report probably contains “expert opinions,” the real question is how much of the report comes into evidence.

Are Police Reports Admissible in Court?

Parts of a Houston police report should be allowed into evidence. How much of the report gets admitted depends on many factors. Police reports are often admissible in court, at least in part.

If you are wondering if you need to file a police report after a car accident or how to get a crash report in Houston, follow the link!

Expert Testimony In Car Crash Cases Generally

Texas Rules of Evidence 702 states: “If scientific, technical or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact in understanding the evidence or in determining a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.”

In many personal injuries or wrongful death accidents, the parties will hire accident reconstruction experts to testify regarding the crash’s reenactment and who is generally at fault.

The expert must be qualified and have used the appropriate methodology for the opinions offered to testify. It is well established that the admissibility of an expert’s testimony is generally within the trial court’s discretion. Sometimes, a Texas personal injury attorney can use the investigating officer’s opinions, and sometimes, they can’t.

Police Officer Testimony in a Car Accident Case

A police officer may testify as to factual observations and may be able to testify about traffic laws that may apply. Whether the officer will be permitted to testify regarding an accident reconstruction issue, such as causation opinions, generally depends upon the degree of training and experience in accident investigation and reenactment they have received and whether or not they reenacted the crash.

Often, the admissibility of the police report will depend on some of the following.

Admitting the Police Report Into Evidence- a Hearsay Exception

Under Texas Rules of Evidence – 803(8), a hearsay exception is provided for the admissibility of public records such as accident reports. Some courts have also admitted the police report under the business records exception under 803(6). See Sciarrilla v. Osborne, 946 S. W. 2nd, 919 (Tex.-App. Beaumont 1997).

Rule 803 (8) creates a presumption in favor of admissibility, and the burden falls on the opposing party to show the lack of trustworthiness. Generally, police reports fall under the category of hearsay, which can be used in a trial as an exception to the rule.

The Mcrae Crash Report Admitted In Car Accident Lawsuit

In McRae v. Echols, 8S.W.3d 797, the court allowed the full accident report to be admitted into evidence in a personal injury case trial even though the officer did not testify.

The court admitted the CONTRIBUTING FACTORS and INVESTIGATOR’S NARRATIVE. The court followed Federal Rule 803(8) and the United States Supreme Court ruling in Beech Aircraft Corp. v. Rainey 488 U.S. 153, which stated that “portions of investigative reports otherwise admissible under rule 803 are not inadmissible merely because they express a conclusion or an opinion. The form is shown below.

As long as a conclusion is based on the factual investigation and satisfies the Rule’s trust with a requirement, it should be admissible along with other portions of the report.” Id at 170. The defendant did not raise objections to the report’s trustworthiness at the time of the report’s admission.

Other Courts Exclude Parts of the Accident Report

In Griffin v. Carson, 2009 WL 1493467, (Tex.App-Houston (Ist Dist.) 2009, a trial court required a redaction of the police report, which contained the officer’s opinion of the cause of the accident.

In Griffin, the officer did not testify, and there was no evidence of the officer’s qualifications. The court held that the opinion testimony in the accident report should be excluded. See also First Transit, Inc v. Hector Alfaro et al., In the Fourteenth Court of Appeals No 14-14-00063CV, 2015.

There, one officer relied on factual observations of another officer at the scene, and the crash report admitted into evidence was redacted as to the narrative opinion. In Texas, it is well settled that a trial court has broad discretion in deciding whether to admit or exclude this evidence.

Admissibility of a Crash Report in an Auto Accident Lawsuit

Police officer opinions regarding the cause of the crash may or may not be admissible in a personal injury trial and may or may not be admitted via the crash report. Whether or not the officer is qualified to render such opinions and how much of the crash report comes into evidence is an issue for the trial court. General rules for evidence include, is it relevant? And is it trustworthy?

There are many cases in which the investigating officer’s opinions were admitted as proper, and many cases in Texas where the officer’s opinions and conclusions were not admissible and required to be redacted from the crash report.

Texas crash reports contain factors and conditions, including the officer’s observations and opinions. The trial court will have broad discretion regarding the admissibility of an accident report in Texas. How a person deals with a traffic ticket can impact a personal injury case.

Have Questions About an Injury Auto Accident?

For over three decades, Baumgartner Law Firm has helped folks injured in accidents in Harris County, Texas. We have recovered millions of dollars for our clients. Maybe we can help you too.