Is it ever okay to lie during your pre-trail
testimony in an accident case, or in a wrongfuldeath case, or in a medical malpractice case
here in New York? You want to know the answer?Come join me as I share with you some terrific
information Hi, I'm Gerry Oginski I'm aNew York medical malpractice and personal
injury attorney practicing law in the stateof New York Let me just get this right out
of the way
It is never, ever okay to liein your pre-trial testimony It is never okay
to lie at trial Let me share with you thekey reason why it's never acceptable There's
some people who turn around and say, "It'sjust a little tiny lie
I didn't really mean
it It's a little misunderstanding Nobodyis going to know Nobody is ever going to
find out
" Guess what? If you tell one littlelie, if you shade the truth the defense attorney
is going to find out There's going to bea contradiction The defense attorney is going
to use that contradiction to show to the jurythat you are a liar Here's something that
can be devastating, can destroy your entirecase
At the very end of the case, the defense attorneyis going to highlight the fact that you were
inconsistent He's going to highlight thefact that you shaded the truth He's going
to highlight the fact that you are hidingsomething Then right before he makes closing
arguments, he's going to ask the judge inprivate, in chambers to give a specific legal
instruction that tells the jury, "Ladies andgentlemen of the jury, if you find that a
witness has testified falsely about one thing,you have the absolute right to disregard all
of their testimony," all of it
That's a legalinstruction known as falsus in uno That's
a fancy Latin phrase which basically saysif you find that a witness has testified incorrectly
or falsely about one little thing, you haveevery right to think that if he's lied about
one thing, he's lied about everythingNow that's not necessarily true You might
have simply made a small little white lieabout something, but told the truth about
everything else, but guess what? The jurynow has the opportunity and the legal right
to disregard all of your testimony
Do youthink it's worth it? Do you think it's worthwhile
to get away one small, little, tiny whitelie? The answer is, absolutely not, under
no circumstance, not a single lie Obviously,if you don't remember something, that's a
different story, but where you clearly saysomething that's not true, and now the defense
attorney is able to show that it's not trueand show that contradiction, that's going
to be the focus of your entire case Why doI share this quick information with you? I
share it with you just to give you an insightand a behind the scenes look at what goes
on in these civil lawsuits involving accidentcases, and medical malpractice cases and wrongful
death cases here in New YorkI acknowledge, and I recognize that you're
watching this video because you likely havequestions or concerns about your own particular
matter
If you're thinking about bringinga lawsuit, but you have questions that need
answers first, what I invite you to do ispick up the phone and call me You know, I
answer questions like yours every single day,and I'd love the opportunity to chat with
you You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or byemail at gerry@oginski-lawcom
That's it
for today's video I'm Gerry Oginski Havea great day