Should You Settle Your Case Or Go To Trial?
That’s the question that each and every victim of an accident has to decide at some point. There are both pros and cons for each. Unfortunately no two situations are ever alike and your reasons for either taking an early settlement or going all the way to court will be different than your neighbors. But if you’ve been injured in an accident you need to know the following information before making your decision:
- How often does the plaintiff (that’s you) win when they take their cases to court? According to the people who keep such statistics, plaintiffs usually win about 60-65% of the time in court. Even the most experienced lawyer has probably lost a case in court that they thought was a guaranteed win. And the same lawyer has probably won a case where they never expected it. The thing is, it’s impossible to know for sure how a judge or jury is going to decide a case. That’s why a truly great attorney will never guarantee a victory. You just never know what’s going to happen when you enter the “wild west” of the courtroom. The term “Life’s a gamble” could certainly apply to the courtroom because anytime you allow a group of strangers the chance to decide your cases fate it’s definitely a gamble. One in which no one knows what the outcome will be.
- My colleague and fellow trial lawyer Chris Davis summarized juries in the following statement. And here in Mississippi and Memphis his statements certainly ring true. “If the OJ Simpson case has taught us anything, it should be the common knowledge that is shared among trial lawyers: any case can be lost at trial because juries are unpredictable. Two different juries deciding the same case can produce two very different verdicts, even when hearing the same evidence and testimony. You may get a “good” group of jurors or a “bad” group. Common to popular myth, you cannot “select” a good jury over a bad one. The law only allows each side to strike 3 jurors out of a panel of 30 to 40 people. This means the lawyer is pretty much stuck with whoever shows up for jury service and ends up on the jury.”
- What if you go to trial and win? Are you guaranteed to receive more money from the jury than you would have in a settlement? No, you’re not. I’ve seen some very large verdicts and I’ve seen some verdicts that left the plaintiff disappointed, even though they won. Be sure that you’re ready to accept whatever the jury decides if you take your case to trial.
- We’ve all seen the huge verdicts and dollars handed down by juries. But what you usually don’t see is the appeal by the defendant (the person we’re suing). Almost every time there is a large verdict there is also an appeal. This means that the case will take anywhere from 2 to 5 years longer before you’ll ever see any money. And that’s IF the appeals court finds in your favor and doesn’t reduce the award.
- One of the toughest decisions you’ll have to make is trying to decide between the risk of losing at trial or receiving a lower verdict against the chance that you’ll be awarded a larger amount by the jury. This isn’t something that can be guaranteed and there’s no formula for making this decision. No one knows for sure what the outcome will be, but by choosing an experienced Memphis or Mississippi personal injury or accident lawyer you may increase your odds of being successful
- At trial it’s not about the “truth” but rather it’s about what the jury believes. And unfortunately at injury trial lawyer’s aren’t always able to get all evidence and “hearsay” heard by the court. The strict rules and regulations the court has can limit what we, as attorneys, can say and present to the jury. What ends up happening is the jury makes a decision on what they perceive to be the truth, not necessarily what is the actual truth. What you see as the truth and believe to be correct is not always the way that the jury will see it.
- What the insurance offers to settle your case will never be the same as what they expect the value of the case to be if they think the jury will decide in favor of you. The insurance company is not going to agree to pay you what they think a jury would pay you. This is because they know that it’s going to be expensive and risky for you to “take them to court”. Why am I telling you this? Because you need to know that we can’t make a settlement demand that is far too high or the insurance company will immediately cancel all negotiations. You can’t just ask for a crazy amount of money to “see what happens”. The insurance companies know how much juries are awarding for cases similar to yours. They have a whole database that shows them what types of awards have been given. When determining your settlement demand we must take this into account in order to get the largest settlement possible.
- How does an insurance company decide how much to offer and accept for a settlement? We’ll there are many factors, but among them are the following: is it clear who’s fault the injury was, will you (the plaintiff) look sympathetic to a jury, are the injuries serious, what type of awards have been given in similar cases. And finally the lawyer’s reputation.
