Work With an Experienced Crestview Personal Injury Lawyer
If you’ve been injured in an accident and have a legal cause of action for damages under Florida law, then chances are that — like most personal injury disputes — the case will be resolved through a settlement.
The large majority of cases never make it to trial, regardless of the particular type of personal injury dispute at-issue: medical malpractice or motorcycle accident, or otherwise. In fact, some industry observers note that nearly 90-95 percent of cases do not proceed to trial, and are resolved through settlement negotiations or some other form of alternative dispute resolution prior to trial.
So, why do so many cases settle? Let’s take a brief look.
Trial Litigation is Costly and Uncertain
A settlement is generally seen as a preferable outcome to trial litigation, as trial litigation can be time-consuming, expensive, damaging to one’s reputation, and uncertain.
For example, suppose that you are injured in a slip-and-fall accident at a local retail store. If you sue the store owner for their negligence, and the case proceeds to trial, negative information about their business and safety practices might come to light and be exposed to the public. This could hurt their reputation in the community, damaging their business operations.
Further, the cost and distraction of trial litigation would be best avoided. Instead, they may be willing to resolve the matter early through a negotiated settlement to avoid the hassles and potential negatives of trial.
One key element of trial litigation is that it is not “certain.” What does this mean?
Essentially, the plaintiff must be able to establish that the defendant is liable and that the liability is for the amount of claimed damages. The results may not be in keeping with their demands, however — even if they have a 100 percent certainty of imposing liability on the defendant, the jury might award $50,000 as opposed to, say, the $100,000 that the plaintiff is attempting to recover. This uncertainty may be undesirable, and so the parties may simply want to negotiate for a certain amount early on to avoid the risk.
Contact a Crestview Personal Injury Lawyer at Powell Law Firm for Help
Powell Law Firm is a personal injury firm that was founded nearly seven decades ago. In that time, we have served countless plaintiffs in a wide range of disputes — from truck accidents to product defect lawsuits — helping them to secure the compensation they deserve.
We are relentless advocates who are willing and able to take a case all the way to trial, if necessary. This ensures that we have significant leverage during early settlement negotiations with the defendant, as they must account for the possibility of trial litigation should they not make a reasonable offer.
If you’d like to speak to an experienced Crestview personal injury lawyer at our firm, call us at 850-682-2757 or send us a message online to schedule a free and confidential consultation today.