Personal injury attorneys work hard on cases, but many more cases are settled out of court than in a trial. Why is that?
When you’re dealing with a personal injury case, chances are you’re hearing the word “settlement” tossed around pretty frequently. Plenty of personal injury cases are settled out of court, sometimes just a few hours before they’re scheduled to go to trial. In fact, as many as 95 percent of lawsuits never see a courtroom. That means that just one case for every 20 will go before a judge—why so few?
There are several reasons that a case will settle outside of court. Let’s take a look at five common reasons.
1) Expenses
Hiring a lawyer can be expensive even if you do agree to pay on a contingency basis. Adding up all the fees that can come with court cases may make it a more desirable option to settle the case out of court. Trials involve more time that you’d theoretically have to take off of work, travel costs (even if you’re just driving to a court house), and plenty of other extraneous fees. Settling out of court saves you from incurring those charges, which can in turn mean that you’ll have more of a settlement when all is said and done.
2) Time
In the same vein, a lot of cases stay out of the courtroom due to time. Most people either don’t want to or cannot dedicate the amount of time required for a court case, and instead choose to take a settlement. Sometimes, these settlements are reached just hours before the case is due in court. Whether this means the optimal payout is achieved isn’t necessarily clear, but sometimes for the people filing the claims, the time saved not going to a long, drawn out trial is worth much more than a few thousand extra dollars.
3) Stress
Those two things combined—money and time—can lead to a perfect storm of stress for people involved in personal injury claims. Insurance companies don’t want to deal with a trial, victims are exhausted (mentally and physically, usually), and the lawyers just want to come to an agreement. Settling out of court helps all involved parties, as it effectively shuts down the case and mitigates high stress for those who are dealing with it. Insurance companies get to write the cost off as a concrete number rather than try to estimate what they’ll have to pay out, victims receive a settlement award, lawyers get paid—it’s a winning conclusion for everyone.
4) Guaranteed Outcome
A settlement also offers the bonus of having a guaranteed outcome. You won’t have to sit in court, fidgeting, waiting hopefully to hear that your side has won and you’ll be awarded compensation. Of course, there’s the other side of the coin—your case loses and you get nothing. Then, you can either appeal or accept the decision. With settlements, however, there’s a guaranteed outcome. You know what compensation you’ll be awarded, and you don’t have to negotiate anymore. For obvious reasons, this is a desirable choice for many people involved in personal injury cases. They would rather get some settlement than no compensation at all.
5) Finality of Decision
Similarly to the desirability of a guaranteed outcome, settlements are popular because the decision is final. With trials, the decision can be appealed in hopes to change the outcome, but with a settlement, whatever is decided on is the end. This is beneficial for those who want the case to simply be over, solved, and done. Settling a personal injury case out of court can be a huge weight off of someone’s shoulders, so it’s not too surprising that nearly all of them never see a courtroom.
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MalmanLaw
At Malman Law Chicago, if you can't come to us, we'll go to you. We are a law firm dedicated to protecting the rights of injury victims, and we will do whatever it takes to help you receive your financial recovery as quickly as possible—whether your case is big or small. We represent personal injury clients who have been injured in all areas related to personal injury and workers' compensation.
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