Many people do not understand the effect of a guilty plea in civil litigation. It most commonly arises in situations involving vehicular collisions. If a defendant in civil litigation has received a traffic citation, and pled guilty to it, the plea of guilty is admissible in a civil litigation, and is often considered by the jury as conclusive of fault.

If you receive a traffic citation following a motor vehicle accident you should immediately contact your insurance company, and in the contact determined whether or not you should consider a plea of guilty. If you plead not guilty regardless of whether a judge or jury find you guilty of a violation of a traffic citation it is not admissible in civil litigation.