Did you know that before a medical malpractice trial can actually start the judge would want the two lawyers to stipulate to a set of facts that are already agreed to? In every single case, a certain set of facts are clearly agreed to. For instance, in a medical malpractice case, the two sides will agree when the incident in question took place, where it took place, and so on. Hence, there are certain facts that are clearly agreed to and stipulated.
Did you know that before a medical malpractice trial can actually start the judge would want the two lawyers to stipulate to a set of facts that are already agreed to? In every single case, a certain set of facts are clearly agreed to. For instance, in a medical malpractice case, the two sides will agree when the incident in question took place, where it took place, and so on. Hence, there are certain facts that are clearly agreed to and stipulated.
Focusing on Key Issues of the Case
The court will want to do this at the start of the trial, in order to eliminate those issues that have nothing to do with the main issue of the case, which is negligence. All civil cases have one main issue to resolve, which is whether the defendant was careless or negligent. Did the doctor violate the basic standards of medical care in treating the patient? Hence, all these types of cases come down to one or two key issues, which are disputed issues in the case. Therefore, there is no need to waste time over issues which are not disputed. Lawyers need not bring in witnesses to provide testimony on issues that are not disputed.
That would be a waste of everyone’s time and damage the credibility slightly of that attorney in the eyes of the court.
For instance, in the medical malpractice case there is no necessity to bring in witnesses to prove when the incident or particular surgical procedure took place. It therefore comes down to only key issues of the case. This is why the judge will want the two attorneys to come to some sort of agreement about undisputed matters, and stipulate between them, before the trial starts.
Leaving out Undisputed Matters
Now, the attorneys are not going to agree upon all the instances and cases about what the facts are. However, the most paramount aspect is to focus the attention of the jurors and witnesses on the key issues of the case that are in dispute. In a medical malpractice case, we will try to establish that the doctor was careless, while the doctor will try to prove he was not negligent.
We then have to establish how the doctor was negligent, by proving he had violated basic and accepted standards of medical care while treating you. The doctor should have been more knowledgeable and alert while performing the particular procedure, which had resulted in you injuries. This is what we want the jury to focus on and deliberate.
Sharing the Same Foundation
This is why the judge will want the two lawyers to agree to a set of stipulated facts, so that the jury and everyone else involved do not have to focus on those issues that are not in dispute. This will not only save a lot of the court’s time, but also lesser chances of digressing into issues that may not be discussed in the first place. Why would anyone want to prove that a particular procedure took place on a certain date, when both parties agree that the procedure had been performed on that date? Therefore, the judge will call the lawyers before trial and ask them to stipulate certain facts that they agree upon.