Hungarian to English Translation for Civil Cases

Certified English Translation of Hungarian Text Messages

Certified translations of foreign language text messages are often needed in court cases. In the absence of a broad context, text messages translated from a foreign language often sound ambiguous, even in the absence of emojis. Today we are covering a case that has to do with the certified translation of Hungarian language text messages to English. The case is from the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, and the name of the case is Jonas v. NOBLE CONSTRUCTION GROUP, LLC.

The plaintiff in the case is Tamasa Jonas, a Hungarian immigrant in New York, worked as a carpenter for a company by the name of A R Woodworks Incorporated. The subject of the case stems from a construction site in New York. The plaintiff was working at a construction site that involved the development of 429 apartments, 230 indoor parking spaces, and a 2,220 square foot commercial space. On one unfortunate day in 2019 while at work, the plaintiff sustained very serious injuries. On that particular day, the plaintiff climbed a 10 to 12 foot long ladder but as he climbed up, the ladder slid taking with it the plaintiff to the ground. Fortunately, another construction worker heard the plaintiff screaming and immediately called 911 after which the plaintiff was taken to the hospital.

Thereafter, the plaintiff brought a lawsuit against the multiple defendants, and, namely, the various companies involved in this construction project. Subsequently, the plaintiff moved for Summary Judgment on the issues of liability against the defendants. However, this Motion was denied by the Court, and at the heart of this decision were translations of text messages from the Hungarian language to English.

In opposition to plaintiff’s Summary Judgment Motion, the defendants had argued that they cannot be deemed liable as they did not even allow the plaintiff to work on the day of the accident. The plaintiff’s boss had testified during his deposition that he told the plaintiff not go to work on the day of the accident because they had run out of materials required for the work. The communication between the plaintiff and his boss was done primarily through text messages, written in the Hungarian language. The plaintiff, on the other hand, argued that the Hungarian text messages proved that his boss had asked him to come to work the very day he was involved in the accident.

The relevant text messages were translated from Hungarian to English, and both sides provided their respective English translations. However, the two certified English translations conflicted with each other. The Court, in reaching its decision, noted that a reasonable jury could interpret the plaintiff’s Hungarian to English translation as showing that he was directed to come to work, whereas the same jury could also agree with the defendants’ Hungarian to English translation indicating that there was no such direction given to the plaintiff.

In its decision of denying the plaintiff’s Summary Judgment Motion, the Court basically agreed with the defendants’ translation of the Hungarian text messages to English. The Court explained that “when faced with a disagreement over the proper translation of a key disputed fact, courts in this district adopt the non-movant’s translation because the Court interprets the facts in the light most favorable to the non-movant on a motion for summary judgment.”

Conflicting English Translations of Hungarian Text Messages

This case provides a solution for when courts are faced with the conundrum of conflicting certified translations submitted by the parties to the case. At the same time, this case underscores the importance of certified translations of evidentiary documents, including text messages. Clearly, certified document translation services can change the direction of a case, even in the presence of a conflict concerning the exact meaning of the translated foreign language text messages. In this case, the defendants were able to avoid a Summary Judgment Motion against them by providing a certified Hungarian to English translation the Court was satisfied with, despite there being a disagreement over the intended meaning of the provided Hungarian to English translations.

Get in touch with All Language Alliance, Inc. to obtain a certified document translation from Hungarian to English; a certified translation from English to Hungarian; evidentiary translations from Hungarian to English; to hire a Hungarian deposition interpreter for an on-site deposition; or to retain a Hungarian Zoom deposition interpreter.

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