Legal Definitions - collateral use

Collateral use refers to the act of employing information, evidence, or a legal finding for a secondary, indirect, or related purpose, rather than for its primary or direct purpose in the main legal issue at hand. It means leveraging something obtained or established in one context to serve a different, often subordinate, objective in the same or a separate legal proceeding.

• Example 1: Witness Credibility

  Imagine a witness in a criminal trial testifies that they saw the defendant at the crime scene at 8:00 PM. The defense attorney has a signed statement from the same witness, given to the police shortly after the incident, stating they saw the defendant at 9:00 PM. The defense attorney can use this prior inconsistent statement not to prove that the defendant was actually there at 9:00 PM (which would be its primary use), but rather collaterally to demonstrate that the witness has given conflicting accounts, thereby questioning their memory and overall credibility to the jury.

• Example 2: Documentary Evidence in a Separate Proceeding

  A small business owner submits detailed financial statements to a bank to secure a business loan. Later, the business is sued by a former employee for wrongful termination, claiming they were fired without cause and are owed significant back pay. The employee's legal team might request those same financial statements. While the primary purpose of the statements was to secure the loan, the employee's lawyers could use them collaterally in the wrongful termination lawsuit to show the company's financial health (or struggles) at the time of the firing, which might be relevant to the employer's stated reasons for termination, rather than directly proving the termination itself.

• Example 3: Legal Findings in a Related Case

  A civil court rules that a particular construction company was grossly negligent in its building practices, leading to severe structural defects in a commercial property. Separately, the property owner has an insurance policy that covers certain types of property damage but excludes damage caused by gross negligence. The insurance company might use the civil court's finding of gross negligence collaterally in the insurance claim process. While the primary purpose of the civil court's finding was to establish liability between the property owner and the construction company, the insurance company could use it to support its decision to deny coverage based on the policy's exclusion, rather than directly proving the insurance claim itself.