Rule 407 Subsequent Remedial Measures

If someone gets hurt and the person or company responsible later fixes the problem or makes changes to prevent it from happening again, that fix generally can't be used against them in court. For example, if a store owner adds a warning sign after a customer slips and falls, the injured person usually can't point to that new sign as proof the store was careless before.

The idea behind this rule is to encourage people and businesses to make things safer without worrying that doing so will be used as an admission of fault. If companies feared that fixing a hazard would hurt them in a lawsuit, they might avoid making improvements at all.

That said, this evidence isn't always off-limits. A judge can allow it for other reasons, like if someone lies on the stand about not being able to make the fix earlier, or if there's a real dispute about who owned or controlled the property, or whether the fix was even possible at the time. In those situations, evidence of the later changes might come in for those specific purposes, just not to directly prove someone was negligent or at fault.