{"id":1525,"date":"2021-03-04T14:28:08","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T14:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/character-evidence-if-character-counts-can-i-prove-that-my-adversary-is-an\/"},"modified":"2022-08-05T13:34:18","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T13:34:18","slug":"character-evidence-if-character-counts-can-i-prove-that-my-adversary-is-an","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bfvlaw.com\/character-evidence-if-character-counts-can-i-prove-that-my-adversary-is-an\/","title":{"rendered":"Character Evidence: If Character Counts, Can I Prove That My Adversary Is An *$$^@!#?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

By the time a dispute between business partners escalates to litigation, it\u2019s a fair bet that those partners – who once worked cooperatively in a productive business relationship \u2013 no longer like each other very much.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If those partners have worked together for an extended period, they may also know (or at least believe) things about each other\u2019s personal lives and prior business dealings.\u00a0 Sometimes, those things aren\u2019t very flattering.\u00a0 An angry entrepreneur may be tempted to introduce evidence into a business dispute that his erstwhile partner cheats on his taxes, or perhaps on his wife.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While all may be fair in love and war, litigation is more complicated.\u00a0 The default rule on the admissibility of character evidence in Georgia is that:
\u201cEvidence of a person\u2019s character or trait of character shall not be admissible for the purpose of proving action in conformity therewith on a particular occasion.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Huh?\u00a0 By way of example, this statute basically stands for the proposition that evidence of a litigant\u2019s marital infidelity generally cannot be introduced into evidence to prove that he also cheated his business partner out of his proportionate share of company profits. While both acts might make the guy a jerk, they are not sufficiently related to one another that the probative value outweighs the prejudicial effect.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The reason for the rule is to guard against the use of socially unacceptable bad behavior (like cheating on a spouse) that is unrelated to the matter in dispute to unfairly prejudice the jury.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u2018But prejudicing the jury against my business partner because of his unrelated bad behavior is exactly what I want to achieve,\u2019 many litigants will exclaim!\u00a0 Alas, the law does not allow for this; generally, anyway.\u00a0\u00a0Like most rules, there are exceptions and much creative lawyering goes into getting evidence like this admitted into court. Just as much effort is expended into keeping it out.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The complexities of evidence law and the exceptions to the general prohibition on the admission of character evidence are beyond the scope of this post.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested, an excellent article titled Character Evidence in the Civil Setting<\/a> and published in the November 2020 Georgia Bar Journal<\/em> was written by The Honorable Jane Manning, a judge in the State Court of Cobb County.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At the risk of grossly over-simplifying what can be an arcane and byzantine evidentiary analysis, the more relevant the character evidence one seeks to introduce is to the alleged conduct at issue in the case the more likely it is to be admissible to prove character. Alternatively, where the evidence simply tells a salacious story and makes the guy look like a jerk, the less likely the evidence is to be admitted.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

If you find yourself embroiled in a dispute with a business partner<\/a> that leaves you thinking unkind thoughts, please let me know<\/a> if I can help.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> O.C.G.A. \u00a7 24-4-404(a).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By the time a dispute between business partners escalates to litigation, it\u2019s a fair bet that those partners – who once worked cooperatively in a productive business relationship \u2013 no longer like each other very much. If those partners have worked together for an extended period, they may also know (or at least believe) things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mo_disable_npp":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCharacter Evidence: Can I Prove My Adversary Is An *$$^@!#?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While all may be fair in love and war, litigation is more complicated. 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