
Quoting
Taxing Matters
That's not an accurate summary of what I said.
Most lawyers will not counsel their clients to lie on the stand. Doing that, if it gets revealed, is a fast ticket to suspension or disbarment. Rather, the if the defendant's testimony won't be favorable his lawyer simply won't put him on the stand in the first place or if he does, he'll ask the defendant only limited questions for which the answers won't hurt the defense.
The insurance company does not dictate to the lawyer how the defense is done. The insurance company does, however, rely on the lawyer's assessment of the case and if the lawyer thinks that the plaintiff can't prove negligence then the insurance company obviously isn't going to pay just because the insured feels bad and wants to pay.
If the defendant admits negligence then he likely loses the case and the insurance company ends up paying the plaintiff.
I don't think that's likely. The insurance company doesn't have an out to paying the judgment because the insured failed to lie in his testimony and, as I said, making that kind of threat to a client to get him to lie on the stand is a fast ticket to suspension or disbarment. Not a lot of lawyers are willing to risk that to get an edge in one particular trial.
Remember, the defendant doesn't have to prove anything. The plaintiff has to prove his case. All the defendant has to do is present a case to rebut what the plaintiff presents. So the defendant doesn't have to get up on the stand to testify at all for his case if his testimony won't be helpful. So there is no obligation on the part of the defendant to admit negligence. The burden is on the plaintiff to prove negligence.
Because in many states he would have been told not to apologize to you before the trial and after the trial it doesn't matter. A few states have rules that allow for an apology before trial that is not admissible at trial as way to help resolve cases where an apology to the plaintiff might help foster settlement of the case. But not all states have such a rule.