Why Do Most Personal Injury Claims End With An Out-of-Court Settlement?

Someone that has been injured in an accident has the right to file a personal injury claim. If negotiations fail to lead to a settlement, the claimant has the right to file a personal injury lawsuit. Many moviegoers and TV-viewers like to watch a courtroom drama. Still, most claimants that file a personal injury lawsuit settle before the case goes to trial.

How does a plaintiff view the prospect of a trial?

No trial means the absence of any risk of losing. Without a trial, the plaintiff can anticipate receiving at least a small award.

How does the defendant’s insurance company view the prospects of a trial?

By agreeing to a settlement, the insurance company becomes free of the threat posed by a possible runaway verdict. That is a verdict that forces the defendant to pay an award that exceeds greatly the amount of money that was requested by the plaintiff.

What view do both sides share, with respect to the possible trial?

From the moment that a client first meets with a lawyer, the two of them begin to study the range of values that represent the worth of the client’s case. At the same time, the insurance company has begun to study the range of values for a possible verdict.

Because both sides deal with ranges, there is a chance for an overlap between the amount desired by the plaintiff and the award anticipated by the insurance company. Pre-trial negotiations have the ability to highlight the existence of that overlap.

Understand that the goal of negotiations is to move the 2 sides closer to an agreement. The emergence of an overlap in the expected payment/award hastens the ability of the negotiators to arrive at an actual agreement. Once the 2 opposing sides reach that agreement, it makes sense to settle, as opposed to fighting it out in a courtroom.

Keep in mind, that a courtroom battle could go one for many weeks, or months. Moreover, it costs money to finance a trial. Personal Injury Lawyer in Kitchener know that there are costs associated with the discovery process, with scheduling a courtroom and with paying any expert witnesses.

All of those factors work to diminish the appeal of a trial, followed by the reading of the jury’s verdict. Furthermore, the same factors cause an out-of-court settlement to appear like the ideal way to resolve the dispute. In light of those facts, it should be no surprise that a majority of the claimants that have chosen to file a personal injury lawsuit never care to know what a jury might decide. In other words, each of them tends to favor the option of settling, as opposed to facing the defendant during a courtroom battle. Consequently, the plaintiff’s case usually ends with an out-of-court decision.