Williams v. McCoy

Williams (plaintiff) sued McCoy (defendant) for negligence after a car accident. She went to the emergency room right away and to a chiropractor four days later, explaining the chiropractor had not been available sooner; she had also met with McCoy's insurance claims adjuster and, after that meeting went badly, hired a lawyer. At trial, defense counsel used the fact that Williams hired an attorney before seeing the chiropractor to paint her as litigious, but the court barred her from explaining that she did so because of the bad experience with the claims adjuster. The jury found McCoy negligent and awarded $3,000; Williams appealed.

Whether evidence of liability insurance is admissible for a purpose other than proving wrongful or negligent conduct.