Your Personal Injury Case Will Likely End At The Negotiating Table, Not In the Courtroom
Given that your Colorado Springs personal injury lawsuit is more likely to end with a settlement than in a court trial, understanding what settlement discussions are and how they work can give you peace of mind while you wait for the final outcome of your case.
According to the most recent statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, only four to five percent of personal injury cases go to trial in the United States. This means that 95 percent to 96 percent of such lawsuits conclude in a negotiated agreement between the personal injury victim and the defendant (and their insurance company).
Whether you are considering filing a personal injury lawsuit in Colorado Springs or currently have one underway, here is what you need to know about settlement discussions.
What Is A Personal Injury Settlement?
A personal injury settlement is an agreement between the plaintiff (the injury victim) and the defendant (the party responsible for the accident and injury) in which the defendant pays an agreed-upon sum to the plaintiff in exchange for the plaintiff giving up their claims and dismissing any pending lawsuit. In most personal injury lawsuits, particularly those involving car accidents, the defendant will not pay the settlement out of their own pocket. Instead, the money comes from the defendant’s insurance company.
How Your Personal Injury Attorney Engages In Settlement Discussions
After a car accident, you should contact your own insurance company and provide them with the other driver’s name, contact information, and insurance information. The other driver will likely do the same (assuming they have insurance, as Colorado law requires for all vehicles).
Attorneys hired by the other driver’s car insurance company will represent that driver and handle all matters related to your claim. When they reach out to you to discuss your claim, you should immediately tell them to contact your personal injury attorney. Under no circumstances should you ever attempt to negotiate a settlement with an insurer without an attorney. They will try to take advantage of you, exploiting your need for money or using your lack of knowledge about your rights to get you to settle for far less than you deserve.
Your personal injury attorney will begin to negotiate with the defendant’s insurer before filing a lawsuit, and some matters do get resolved at this stage in the process. However, it is more likely that your lawyer will file a personal injury lawsuit as part of their efforts to bring the insurer to the table with a reasonable and suitable settlement offer. The lawyers can continue their settlement discussions throughout the litigation process, including after a trial starts.
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At every stage of the settlement discussions, each side of the personal injury lawsuit will claim that they have the stronger case based on the facts, evidence, and applicable law. As the lawsuit moves forward, new testimony or evidence may strengthen one side’s position and weaken the other’s. Such new developments often move the needle on negotiations, causing one side or the other to change their position, leading to a settlement offer.
Your attorney and the insurance company’s lawyers may try to resolve your case through mediation. This process involves a specially trained, neutral third party who works with both sides in an effort to bring them to a mutually acceptable agreement.
If settlement discussions and/or mediation do result in an agreement, the defendant’s insurance company will write a check in exchange for you releasing your claim and dismissing your lawsuit. Your lawyer will take the agreed-upon percentage out of the settlement amount as payment for their fees and expenses. Additionally, some settlement proceeds may go to doctors and others who treated you after your accident. The remaining amount of the settlement will go to you.
Why Do So Many Personal Injury Cases End In a Settlement?
Even where one (or more often, both) of the parties believes they have a strong case, going to trial still is a big risk. Even when liability appears straightforward, there is simply no such thing as a “slam dunk” personal injury lawsuit. El Paso County judges and juries can be unpredictable. There is always a chance that a trial will end in a judgment in the injury victim’s favor that costs the insurance company far more than the amount they could have settled the case for before trial. Similarly, a plaintiff could wind up losing at trial and get nothing after turning down a seemingly reasonable settlement offer. A settlement eliminates these risks.
Additionally, taking a personal injury lawsuit through a trial isn’t cheap for defendants and the insurance companies that pay for their defense. Since insurance companies’ primary goal is to resolve claims quickly while paying as little money as possible, spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on lawyers (along with the chance of getting hit with a large judgment) doesn’t exactly make sense.
In Settlement Negotiations or At Trial, King & Beaty Will Get You The Maximum Amount of Compensation Available
At King & Beaty, we have helped countless clients in Colorado Springs get the compensation they deserve and need to move forward with their lives after a serious accident. And, you pay nothing in attorneys’ unless we recover money for you. Please contact us today to arrange for your free initial consultation.
