

What happens if you take the Fifth in a civil case? - SCAQTony
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/08/28/what-happens-if-you-take-the-fifth-in-a-civil-case/

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adebtlawyer
In my experience, it's not unusual, though not common, for people (usually
parties) to refuse to testify in a civil case based on the 5th amendment. The
other side can ask the court to draw an adverse inference from this. I know an
aggressive litigator who sometimes has his clients do this. He says "you won't
win your case with your adverse inference."

That may be true, but the 5th amendment seems like a risky civil strategy to
me. Usually the other side won't be entirely dependent on your testimony to
prove their case. There can be other evidence out there that you might want to
explain with your testimony, or you may otherwise wish to make your case with
testimony.

It's worth knowing that in a civil case the 5th amendment is much less
powerful and has risks as well as benefits.

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pascalmemories
If there is other evidence to meet balance of probabilities, it's irrelevant
whether you say something or not. Saying something is more likely to cause you
trouble and open up avenues to hang you out to dry.

Of course, were that to be the case, any sensible lawyer would tell you to
make a settlement pre-trial. That way the 5th is never an issue, nor is any
testimony which would otherwise go on official record and be searchable for
all time.

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adebtlawyer
Your statement "other evidence to meet balance of probabilities" is concise
but so abstract it's useless. Like most legal questions, there is no abstract
way to reason about this. The answer is always "it depends on the context."

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MichaelGG
Has there been any research on the effectiveness of jury instructions? It
seems that telling people to discard evidence (in a Bayesian sense) is simply
an invalid idea. People have internal biases and you can't make them
compensate by telling them to.

~~~
x0054
Not to mention, have you ever listened to jury instructions? They are so
incredibly boring and convoluted that most peoples eyes just glaze over. It's
not the juries don't follow the instructions, it's that many of them don't
listen and don't understand the instructions in the first place.

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gorena
Since Americans typically commit three felonies a day, can you _always_ take
the Fifth? You were possibly committing a crime and don't even know it.

