What Is “Material And Competent” Evidence?

by Friedman & Ranzenhofer, PC on October 17, 2011

in Buffalo Injury Questions and Answers

All Buffalo personal injury lawsuits hinge on evidence.  As a result, the rules regarding what evidence will be admissible for use at a trial are very complex.  Parties often seek some basis to have evidence detrimental to their position barred from being presented to the jury, which has led to a variety of court rulings on different subjects related to the presentation of evidence.

Generally, to be admissible at a personal injury trial, evidence must be both “material” and “competent.”  Evidence has been defined as being “material” when it is relevant to proving or disproving a fact that is in dispute.  To be material to the case, the evidence sought to be admitted must be related to a matter that is actually in dispute.  If there is no dispute regarding an issue, evidence regarding it is immaterial and may not be admitted at trial.

“Competent” evidence generally means relevant evidence that is in admissible form.  Evidence may be relevant but considered “incompetent” if it falls under some legal exclusion making it inadmissible – such as the evidence being hearsay. 

Evidence that is not both material and competent cannot be used at a personal injury trial.

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