Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: Evidence in civil cases

The simple answer is "yes". That's not without qualification, however. Any evidence that is objectionable must be objected to at the time of the attempt to introduce the evidence; if there is no timely objection, the objection is waived. It is not the judges' job to police admissibility of evidence and normally won't do so unless asked by way of objection.

Any question on cross examination has to be relevant to the subject matter of the case. If the only purpose of the question is to make the witness look bad, that's objectionable. So those questions may be relevant to a claim for punitive damages, because evidence of prior reckless behavior is relevant to the malicious or reckless nature of the acts sued for. Evidence of the commission of a felony is also relevant to show the witness may not be believable.

Other than something like that, the question is objectionable. If it's already happened and you didn't object, forget about it, you missed your chance. If you're worried about an upcoming trial, file a motion to be heard before trial (motion in limine, pronounced "limminay") to exclude evidence of the prior traffic record.