The standard for the burden of proof in a civil action requires the plaintiff, in order to prevail on his or her claim, to prove the claim by a “fair preponderance of the evidence.”1 This means the evidence “must be of such weight as to produce a reasonable belief in the truth of the facts asserted,”2 or, in other words, it must “outweigh that which favors the opponent.”3 However, pursuant to the Noseworthy doctrine, as established in Noseworthy v. City of New York, 298 N.Y. 76 (1948), a plaintiff in a wrongful death (personal representative of the decedent whose death was caused by defendant) or an amnesiac plaintiff in a personal injury action (amnesia caused by defendant) is ordinarily not held to this usual degree of proof.4
While the doctrine does not actually change the preponderance standard, it operates to give a jury greater latitude in weighing evidence and drawing inferences favorable to plaintiff, and the jury is so charged.5 As cogently observed by one commentator: “The doctrine is neither a proof-shifting device, nor a mechanism whereby a case that would not otherwise qualify as sufficient from an evidentiary perspective, is transformed into one that does. The effect is strictly to permit more favorable inference from circumstantial evidence.”6
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