Trials are expensive and emotionally draining. No business or individual wants to go through a trial twice when once would suffice. And if you think your client is unhappy to try a case twice, think how unhappy they will be if they won the first round with inadmissible evidence and then they lose the second round when the evidence is excluded.
If that juicy prejudicial evidence seems just too good to pass up, you should consider the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in Macsherry v. Sparrows Point, LLC. In Macsherry, the court reversed a plaintiff’s trial win because he (i.e., his lawyer) introduced, and the trial court allowed the jury to hear, evidence of the parties’ settlement negotiations. That evidence was likely very helpful to the plaintiff at trial, but it was also the reason the plaintiff had to retry the case.
