Prospective clients have many misconceptions about the legal process, and it is understandable. Hopefully, they have never been involved in an injury-causing car accident before and do not have detailed knowledge of the legal system and how it works. That is precisely why they must rely on a car accident lawyer throughout the process. One misconception is about how most auto accident cases get resolved.
Most Car Accident Cases Never See the Inside of a Courtroom
Many accident victims think a jury in a courtroom will decide their legal rights. While there is a possibility that you can have a jury trial, most car accident cases resolve some other way. You may need to go to court in your case, but it is far from inevitable. However, you always have the legal right to a trial if you cannot get a fair settlement for your car accident injuries.
Most car accident cases will settle before they see the inside of a courtroom. Depending on how you and your lawyer decide to proceed, you may not even need to file a lawsuit.
Before You File a Claim, You Must Prove Negligence
You may receive a check for your damages when you suffer an injury in a car accident. First, you must prove that someone else was responsible for the car accident. You will win a car accident case by proving someone else’s negligence in your car accident, meaning that they acted unreasonably under the circumstances. Before taking legal action, your lawyer will gather the necessary proof to include with your claim or lawsuit.
Your Legal Options in a Car Accident Case
If you or a loved one have suffered an injury in an accident, there are two paths that you can follow to obtain financial compensation for your injuries:
- You can file an insurance claim against the responsible driver’s policy
- You can file a lawsuit against the responsible driver in court
Regardless of where your pursuit for compensation originates, the result is usually the same; at some point, you will settle the claim after negotiating the amount with the insurance company. The same thing is true whether you have filed a claim against the other driver’s policy or you have filed a claim against your uninsured motorist coverage on your policy. Lawsuits have costs and risks for you and the insurance company that neither of you wants to incur.
Very Few Car Accident Cases Will Go to Trial
There are varying estimates of how many personal injury cases will go to trial. Each of the estimates is consistent in that very few personal injury lawsuits will end up at a trial.
According to one Department of Justice study, only about 3 percent of personal injury cases resulted in a jury verdict. Other estimates have the proportion of court cases that go to trial at four to 6 percent. Regardless of the number, trials are scarce. Cases will either settle or the court will dismiss them for whatever reason. Those are the two most likely outcomes.
By one count, 61 percent of auto accident cases will reach a settlement agreement. The rate is even higher when the injured driver has hired a car accident attorney. Even if car accident lawsuits are more common, the number of trials remains small. The trial only comes at the end of a long legal process that can conclude before reaching that milestone.
Settlement Is an Option, but Not the Only One
Your attorney does not automatically go into every case knowing they will settle. Ultimately, it is your choice to settle your case or take it to trial. If negotiations with the insurance company eventually yield the money you deserve, there is very little motivation to end up in court. It is in your best interest to get the most money possible in the shortest possible time frame with the least risk. While it may be necessary, going to court should not be your first option.
From your perspective, you want compensation without a significant delay and the risk of a trial. Even though the insurance company has a history of dragging out cases, a case will take one to two years from start to finish in the court system. At least, there is a chance that your insurance claim can conclude before then. The rough average to settle a car accident insurance claim is about one year, but some cases can resolve faster.
Personal Injury Trials Can Stress You Out
In addition, while dealing with the insurance company is stressful, a personal injury trial is far more so. Although you should not hesitate to go into court if it is necessary to get total compensation, it should not necessarily be your first resort. Many people end up in court only after they unsuccessfully attempted to settle the case with the insurance company.
When the insurance company takes a hard line or denies your claim, you may file a lawsuit, naming the responsible driver as the defendant. The insurance company is still involved in the picture because they provide the legal defense for their policyholder.
You Can Still Settle Your Case When You File a Lawsuit
Going to court is not the same thing as going to trial. Even if your case goes to court, it may not end up in front of a jury. You and the insurance company have the incentive to settle the case before it goes to a trial.
From your standpoint, you may not want to take the risk of having a jury decide the case. There is always a chance that the jury may not see things your way and will rule against you. If that happens, you will end up with nothing. A settlement is a way of managing your own risk to ensure that you get something and the amount of money is in line with what you will legally deserve.
If you face a jury, there can be a higher risk and reward. Juries have awarded more money to plaintiffs than the plaintiff may have received in a settlement. However, a strict jury can mean that you come away from your case empty-handed when the insurance company offered you some money in a settlement. Thus, you are taking a risk if you reject the insurance company’s best and final offer. However, you may have no choice but to go to trial.
This is a decision you need to weigh carefully with your car accident lawyer. Your attorney knows the industry standards for settlement offers during litigation, and they can advise whether an offer is unfair for your particular case. Often, the closer you get to your trial date, the greater offer you might receive from the insurance company. Their representatives often want to avoid a trial whenever possible.
That said, even the final offer from an insurer might be well below what you deserve, and taking the risk of going to trial is the best choice. Having trusted legal guidance is critical when making this decision. Your lawyer wants your case to succeed, so they should advise you on the best option given your circumstances.
Further, you always want to hire a car accident attorney with litigation experience. Many car accident cases settle directly with the insurer, so many injury attorneys rarely go to court. You want to hire a firm with the experience and resources to represent you at a jury trial if your case requires it. Your attorney should be ready to seek justice for you both in and out of the courtroom.
The Insurance Company Also Wants to Minimize Its Own Risks
The insurance company may also not want to face a jury. They can settle the case for less than the jury will award you in damages. Although the jury award is supposed to reflect your damages, remember that a jury is a group of human beings. Jury members have emotions and can get angry when they see the results of what the other driver did. They can take that anger out in awarding a higher amount of damages against the defendant, which the insurance company will have to pay up to the coverage limits.
Another reason why an insurance company does not always like to go to court is that they can end up in trouble if they fail to settle the case when they have an opportunity. If the claim has merit, and the insurance company drags its feet, its policyholder may sue them.
If the jury awards a verdict far over the policy maximum, the driver can be personally responsible for it. The driver might sue the insurance company for bad faith if the driver’s liability was made far worse by the insurance company’s refusal to settle. Therefore, the insurance company has risks that it needs to consider.
The insurance company usually knows which cases can be dangerous for them. Even though the insurance company will try to use every trick at its disposal during settlement negotiations, it knows when it needs to be serious about settling the case. The insurance company has a firm idea of when a jury may rule against it and issue a large damages verdict.
Insurance companies are all about pricing and managing risk. Their business is to collect premiums in exchange for assuming the risk of insuring a driver whose actions they do not control. The same thing goes for when the insurance company is facing a claim. They will assess risk at all phases of the case, weighing their chances of success against the worst-case scenario. They are continuously updating their risk assumptions throughout the process.
You will only end up in court, going to trial, if your attorney has determined that it is an absolute necessity in your case. The insurance company often stretches things out until the last minute, even after you have already taken the case to court.
Your Lawsuit Will Often Settle After Discovery Concludes
You may have already gone through the discovery process. The insurance defense attorney may have already taken your deposition, and you spent hours answering their questions. Your attorney received evidence from the other party, and vice versa, so each side can review the other’s case strategy.
After discovery is when the insurance company has a complete picture of the strength of your case and how you may fare before a jury. Still, the one thing that they cannot predict is how much money the jury may award you. The insurance company has no control at this point in the case. Everything is entirely out of their hands, and insurance companies do like to be in that position.
At this point, the insurance company will get very serious about settling the case. While they may have very slowly raised their offer previously, they may get more aggressive about lifting their offer to get closer to your negotiating position. Many cases will settle on the eve of trial. Still, your attorney will prepare as if a trial is happening right up to the point when it is apparent that a trial will not occur.
Why You Need an Attorney for a Car Accident Trial
Car Accident Attorney, Phillip J. Barkett
If your car accident case goes to court, you need an experienced attorney to argue your case to the jury. You have the burden of proof to persuade the jury, demonstrating your case by a preponderance of the evidence.
Self-represented claimants stand very little chance of proving that independently. An attorney with courtroom experience who knows how to speak to a jury can help you make the most compelling case for financial compensation.
Before hiring an attorney, you should inquire about their courtroom experience. Although you do not want a litigation happy attorney who will needlessly take your case to trial, you also want to have a lawyer who knows their way around a courtroom and how to speak to a jury. Otherwise, you will limit your legal options.