The retired Superior Court Judge explained to the opposing insurance defense attorneys and their claims representative that they needed to keep an open mind due to Confirmation Bias. Confirmation Bias prevents people from hearing anything but what they expect to hear or what they already think. Sometimes very wrong decisions are based on bad facts because of Confirmation Bias.
The case involved a bicyclist run over in a crosswalk by a truck. Needless to say, truck vs. bicycle cases usually result in serious personal injuries on the part of the bicyclist. The truck driver said that he was looking for traffic approaching on his left and he did not look to the right before starting forward, at which time he hit the bicyclist. It seemed a straight forward case of clear liability on the part of the truck driver. Aren’t crosswalks supposed to be safe for children, the elderly, pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders, joggers, and mothers pushing baby strollers? Shouldn’t all drivers “know before you go?”
After the incident, the truck driver, fearful of losing his job, reported to his company that the bicyclist ran into the truck. Even though the impact was front of truck vs. side of bicycle, and since the bicyclist was not trick-riding sideways, it seemed the company would realize their employee had misinformed them.
Unfortunately, the bicyclist did suffer serious personal injuries and he was whisked away to the hospital before the police officer could get his version of what happened. Since the officer only had the fearful employee’s version, the traffic collision report related that the bicycle ran into the truck. The company therefore formed their misunderstanding of the facts of the case and felt it was the bicyclist’s fault. The company was incensed that the bicyclist had the gall to file a lawsuit for personal injuries for something they felt he had brought upon himself.
The company refused to review the facts and change their position because of Confirmation Bias. Thankfully, our law firm was able to persuade a jury to render a fair verdict of over a quarter of a million dollars in favor of the bicyclist. The trial judge, perhaps suffering from Confirmation Bias, took the jury verdict away as judges have the power to do. That will be the topic of another blog.
