Why Do Most Personal Injury Cases Settle?
Most legal professionals instinctively know that personal injury cases tend to settle out of court.
Personal injury lawyers know that the average personal injury case will settle out of court. The two main reasons for this are discussed in more detail below:
Trial carries substantial risks
A personal injury lawyer in Montclair knows that taking a personal injury case to court is very risky. After all, there is no guarantee that the judge and jury will rule in either the defendant’s or the plaintiff’s favor. Both parties run the risk of leaving with no settlement and mountains of legal bills to pay. This is compounded by the fact that people who file personal injury lawsuits tend to have already suffered heavily financially. This can be because of lost income, excessive doctor’s bills, or many other reasons. They need to win a settlement because the money would help offset their already high and growing medical and other bills.
Both parties’ figure that given this reality, it’s better to arbitrate and arrive at a settlement even if it’s smaller. After all, money is money and in the case of personal injuries, it’s dear. Insurance companies also want to settle out of court, whether it’s through arbitration or other legal methods. They know that judges and juries tend to order them to pay high amounts to the plaintiff if and when the case does win. This can cause them lots of negative publicity and can really impact their profit margins. They would much rather cut a much smaller check (that is agreed upon by both parties) to the plaintiff. The defendant’s actions are what hurt the plaintiff.
If you are ever involved in a personal injury accident, as mentioned before, you have to prove that the defendant’s actions are what caused your accident. The judge will also analyze the case to determine if the defendant could easily foresee that his or her actions would/could cause your personal injuries.
If you hire a good personal injury lawyer, the prospects of you winning some sort of settlement from the defendant are high. This premise remains true even if all you are doing is filing a personal injury claim with the defendant’s insurance company. This occurs all of the time after car accidents.
The unspoken truth is that most personal injury lawyers want personal injury cases to settle because they have no idea of estimating the exact and real dollar value of the cases. They have no idea how the jury will rule either. Both parties tend to believe that the settlement amount will be within a certain range. They also believe that if the ranges overlap, the case itself will likely settle within the predicted range. Taking a case to trial is hard and uncertain. This is the reason why so many people who file personal injury cases tend to settle out of court.