Trial Process Is Different With Settlement Process
When a settlement offer is made in an injury case, people who have previously been represented by another attorney often ask me: "Should I go to trial on my injury case?" Whether it involves workers' compensation or a third-party personal injury, such as a car accident or a slip and fall, I will say that the trial process in work cases is very different from the settlement process. The plaintiff's attorney who represents you typically doesn't file a jury demand because the insurance company always wants the jury.
After all, the jury is a strength for them because if they can convince the jury, they can usually prevail in a third-party case, which is very complicated or can be especially nursing home or medical malpractice, and which is typically tried in front of a jury. Imagine that you are a juror sitting in a jury room with 12 or 11 strangers and that one or two of them are saying,
"No way, this is a BS case we shouldn't pay anything, I got hurt and I didn't get anything."
He doesn't deserve anything, regardless of how awful his or her reasons are; all you need is one person on the jury to keep you there for a week; you miss work, you don't spend time with your family. You're stuck in a dull courthouse for a week just trying to persuade this guy to pay some money, and then typically what happens is that you either get a hung jury, meaning the entire trial was a waste of time.
The Jury Process
A hung jury implies that the case must be retried, which might result in additional expenditures of thousands of dollars in addition to the fact that a new jury will be selected to hear the case. The trial could last two days, weeks, or even months. The other scenario is that the jury's decision is simply compromised. For example, if the case is worth $1 million and one person says, "I believe $5,000 is more than generous," what are you going to do?
The million-dollar verdict will eventually be reduced to a hundred thousand dollars, even if the man cannot work again or has lost a leg, according to what will happen, according to everyone in the room except for the one jerk who refuses to pay. Listen, that can and will happen. You have one person holding the lives of 11 other people hostage because he or she is resentful, and lacks love or compassion for others.
In the end, the decision of whether to proceed with a trial will be based on your chances, the nature of your case, your prospects, and the offer. Now pay attention, let's begin with the offer. If there is no offer, making a decision is simple: you can either proceed to trial or dismiss the case. Those are your only two choices.
Be Honest With Your Lawyers
I remember as a very young lawyer I was trying a case and I found out that the client was lying about being heard in the accident the defense, hid evidence like they did not disclose it in discovery which is a big no. If your case is really rough or really bad evidence comes out, it might be that a lawyer would advise you to just get out of the case; thankfully that's pretty rare for evidence so bad to come out.
However, the judge sort of let him off the hook, and it didn't turn out well for the injured party, which is why I always advise people to be honest with their lawyers because everything you say to them is protected by the attorney-client privilege. If there is a problem with your case, you should go to trial if your lawyer knows how to fix it for you.
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The Trial Process
Remembering Illinois' unanimous judgment, you need 12 people to all to agree that you should win and all agree on the amount of money. So, if there are genuine issues with the case and you receive a nice offer, you might want to think about settlement. If your lawyer believes the case should go to trial, you should probably do so.
Lawyers understand and can advise you about whether an offer is fair or not but they can only do it if they have all the information. They can only do it if they have all the information. One or two people can bring a verdict down by making everyone sit for a week and reducing the verdict to less than your medical bills.
Trials Take A Long Time
In other words, now and again I receive calls asking if I should settle or go to trial. Here are some key details about the case. I warn them that it might be unethical of me to estimate the value of their claim before I have all the pertinent information because, while it's important to understand the broad strokes of what happened and when, as well as the general injuries, it's the specifics that will determine whether they can win or lose.
Therefore, I wouldn't rely solely on calling a lawyer for a consultation to determine whether they can help, or whether you ought to decline that cash and simply go to trial. So those are some things to consider, but I'll tell you the last thing to consider is whether you should go to trial. Trials take a long time, so if you're on the verge of trial and there's a nice offer on the case, that's a different position than previously. It's very different under those circumstances because of the way the courts are currently set up depending on your jurisdiction and what had occurred in your town with the lockdowns and the closings and everything.
A lawsuit is filed pre-suit or early on in the process, they're making you an offer, and you've got you know there's not even a trial date set well, under those circumstances, it's very different. My point is that if you decide now that you don't want money, that your attorney is recommending, and you're like forget it, push it to trial, well you may wait a year, two, three, or even four years to get to trial depending on the number of cases in the courthouse and procedural mistakes and snafus that arise, such as are things going online or judges going back to seeing people in person, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other. Before your case even goes to trial, you might have quite a wait.
Your Attorney Can Help You Settle A Case
Additionally, keep in mind that you are sort of playing the odds, a skilled trial lawyer can give you a rough notion of your prospects, but the closer the trial approaches, the more precise prediction they can make. There will still be further evidence after the trial, and the defense will probably go hire one or more physicians to testify that you weren't gravely hurt. The physicians will testify before the jury, saying things like "you're full of it, your lawyer's full of it, it's not a true case," and "trial is full of it."
They are permitted to do so at this time, and a good attorney can defeat them fairly effectively, but ultimately, it will be decided by 12 strangers chosen at random, so there is a risk involved. My recommendation would typically be to settle your case now if there is a fair offer, there are issues or challenges, and a professional like an attorney who has all the information suggests that you should likely do so. Of course, if you don't feel that your attorney has earned your trust by being polite to you and acting as though they have put any effort into the case, you shouldn't settle it.
In general, if your attorney has worked up and litigated the case and is telling you to settle, you should probably settle. I know that's frustrating, but it may be time to get a second opinion if you have a lawyer who has a reputation for simply settling cases without really looking at them, working them up, or if they can't settle them. If you have such a lawyer or suspect you do, get a second opinion. I hope this information is helpful to you. In reality, I'm simply relaying what I tell my customers and what I would tell anyone if they wanted to get the inside scoop on this sort of thing, so I hope I didn't let you down too badly.
So I give free consultations at 312-500-4500. If you've been injured and you need to talk or you have any questions, I offer a free no-obligation case strategy session. I am happy to answer your questions or you can get more information at my website at www.DeSalvolaw.com.
