Many people imagine that personal injury cases eventually resolve at trial nearly all the time. After all, we see plenty of examples of such courtroom battles in popular media. But the reality is, almost all personal injury cases end up settling long before trial.
Why is this the case and what can you do about it?
How Personal Injury Cases Work
Starting a personal injury lawsuit requires you to file a formal complaint with the court. With the help of a personal injury attorney, you can prepare a suitable complaint, begin gathering evidence, and start strategizing for how you want to handle the case moving forward. After that, the defendant will have an opportunity to answer, admitting or denying the allegations and presenting any affirmative defenses that can preclude them from liability.
At this point, and moving forward, both parties have the opportunity to reach a mutually agreeable settlement, rather than pushing the case forward and eventually going to trial. Throughout discovery of evidence and ongoing negotiations, most parties are able to reach a resolution. Only if settlement negotiations fail will the case eventually move to trial.
What Is a Personal Injury Settlement?
A personal injury settlement is a mutually agreed resolution to the case, commonly taking the form of a lump sum payment by the defendant to the plaintiff. The amount should cover all the plaintiff’s expenses related to the personal injury, including medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
The Motivations to Settle Before a Trial
Why is it that both parties are motivated to settle before trial?
- Avoiding expenses. Going to trial is expensive, and each side is required to pay for their own legal expenses in most cases. Being able to settle before trial means circumventing a ton of expenses and keeping the matter as inexpensive as possible.
- Expediting the timeline. Personal injury cases can take a long time to resolve, even if they never go to trial. It usually takes months to go through discovery and to begin negotiations, and for particularly complex cases, the battle can last for years. It’s going to take even longer to resolve the issue if it ends up going to court.
- Increasing control and certainty. Some parties hate the idea of going to trial because it forces them to forfeit control over the situation and sacrifice certainty of results. Instead of negotiating and advocating for your own side, and trying to work with the other side to reach an effective deal, you’ll be delegating the decision to a jury, who may or may not be on your side.
- Taking advantage of case law. Regardless of the nature of your personal injury, it’s likely that something similar has happened to someone else in the past. In fact, there have probably been many cases like yours in the past. These cases and awards serve as functional guidelines that both parties can follow; if nearly all people in your situation received $35,000 in damages, plus or minus $5,000, there’s no reason to ask a judge to decide something differently.
- Limiting undue burdens on courts. Our courtrooms are already extraordinarily busy and overwhelmed with scheduled cases. Keeping matters out of court helps keep things running smoothly.
Maximizing Your Settlement
If you’re interested in maximizing your settlement, these are the most important strategies you should follow:
- Hire the best lawyer you can. Your lawyer is going to be instrumental in helping you build a case and negotiate a settlement. Accordingly, you should hire the best lawyer you can afford. Great lawyers can help push your settlement much higher.
- Trust your lawyer’s advice. After hiring your lawyer, trust their advice. Too often, people go against legal advice because of a false perception, an instinct, or simple stubbornness. You hired your lawyer for a reason, and you should trust their expertise to lead you to the best possible results.
- Gather as much hard evidence as possible. The more hard evidence you have on your side, the more favorable the negotiation is going to go for you. Try to get as many details as possible about the accident and keep track of all your medical records and related expenses.
- Know how to negotiate. Negotiation strategies come in many forms, so it pays to have an idea of how you want to negotiate in advance. Your lawyer will do the negotiating on your part, but you will have input on what you’re willing to accept and potentially which posture you want to adopt.
Most personal injury cases settle long before trial because trials are long, complicated, unpredictable, and expensive. With the help of a good lawyer, you should be able to negotiate a fair settlement, and walk away from your case without having to worry about the stress of a courtroom.
