Personal
Injury is harm or damage caused to the physical body or mind of one
person by another (whether a person or a company) by an act that fell below the
standard of care. Personal injury cases can
come from car accidents, cruise ship accidents, airplane accidents,
construction site accidents, defective products, attacks on property by third
persons due to inadequate security, and animal attacks, among many others. All these types of cases are listed on our
website at www.goldbergdohan.com
A personal injury case can
be settled before a lawsuit is filed through informal negotiations (known as a “pre-litigation
settlement”), during the a lawsuit (even at the beginning or during trial), or the
damages can be left up to a Jury to determine.
The decision to settle your case at any stage or allow a jury to
determine your fate, with the expectation of maximizing its value is an
important and often daunting decision.
If you have suffered any
damage or injury through any type of accident, you should seek advice from an
experienced, reputable and established Firm like Goldberg and Dohan, before making a
final decision to settle your case. Not
only do we guide our own Clients with these decisions daily, we gladly provide
second opinions to many clients of other lawyers about whether to settle their
case or take it to court, free of charge.
An experienced trial attorney can guide you in making the best decision
for you by explaining your injuries, case facts (those helpful and hurtful to
your case), reasonable settlement value vs. the full value of your damages, as
well as previous payments by insurance companies for similar injuries and
verdicts reached by juries in the same locale.
The purpose of a
settlement is to avoid the inherent risks of going to a trial, which are mainly
that a jury will award you less that you want and you are left owing money to
your doctors and possibly to a Defendant for their attorney’s fees and
costs. Once you decide to go to trial,
the decision of how much money you will recover is no longer yours.
Of course, every personal
injury case is different and has its own strengths and weaknesses. Your personal injury attorney will help you
decide what time for settlement is right for you based on your needs and the
specifics of the case.
Should You Settle Pre-Suit?
At the center of any
negotiations, you must decide what the minimum amount of money is that you are
willing to settle your case, and if the “pre-litigation” offer is enough to get
you that amount, it may be best to settle your case at that stage.
Importantly, there may be
other factors that play into a decision, such as the insurance policy limits of
the at-fault party. Some very valuable
cases are settled for next to nothing because the person who was at-fault has
little insurance coverage and no real assets to go after. Nevertheless, a majority of cases are settled
at this stage after the Client has concluded their active medical care. Pre-suit settlements are cost-effective with
little up front out-of-pocket expenses and yield a significant savings on
attorney’s fees (which are 33.33% pre-suit).
At this point, the case is
over and you can get back to living without having to worry about the case.
Should You Settle during Litigation?
To file a personal injury
case in Court, it costs about $500, which includes the service of the Complaint
on the Defendant. Once a personal injury
case is filed, and the Defendant hires a lawyer and Answers the Complaint, the
attorney’s fee increases to 40% in compliance with the Rules of the Florida
Bar. Depositions cost about $500 each
just for a copy of the deposition. Mediation
can cost up to $1,000 or more.
Interpreters charge about $100 per hour.
If your case requires an expert witness, those fees can easily exceed $5-10,000
per expect. It is clear that there is an
economic factor in deciding whether to settle a case pre-suit or to move
forward and file a lawsuit.
In some cases, a lower
pre-suit offer will result in the same net recovery (the final dollar amount to
the Client after attorney’s fees and costs and payment of all doctors’ bills
and liens), or even more money, to the Client, that a much larger offer during
a lawsuit. Once a lawsuit is filed, it
will normally take a much greater amount of money to get a Client the same
amount of a much lower pre-suit settlement would have.
For example:
Pre-Suit Settlement
$10,000 Pre-suit
settlement
$3,333 Attorneys Fee
$100 costs
-------------
$6,566 Net to Client in
Pre-Suit Settlement
Settlement After Commencement of Litigation
$15,000 Lawsuit Settlement
$6,000 Attorneys Fees
$2,500 Costs
----------------
$6,500 Net to Client in
Lawsuit Settlement
The above example
illustrates how it usually takes a gross settlement of 150% or more than a
pre-suit offer in order to net a client the same recovery, had they accepted
the lower pre-suit offer. Another factor
Clients must consider is their time taken from family, work and life to attend
meetings with their lawyer, depositions, compulsory medical exams, mediation
and possibly a trial. Litigation
requires the Client’s participation and effort, as much as the attorney’s.
Unfortunately, insurance
companies many times make “low ball” pre-suit offers, which just cannot be
accepted due to the economics of the case (such as offers that are not enough
money to cover even the medical bills), and thus force Clients into filing
lawsuits because there is simply no alternative. Some lawyers accept these “low-ball” offers simply
because they do not litigate cases in Court, and they develop a weak reputation
with the insurance companies. Other
lawyers do not have enough money to fund the costly lawsuits. At Goldberg and Dohan, we are constantly
filing lawsuits, have the financial means to litigate cases at the way through
trial, and take great pride in obtaining the maximum value for representing our
Clients.
Should You Go to Trial?
Going to trial and
allowing a group of unknown individuals (known as a Jury) to decide your fate
in a personal injury case is a decision that involves a very high level of
risk. Juries are extremely unpredictable,
because they are made up of Citizens from all kinds of backgrounds, beliefs,
values and morals. For this reason, it
is only when a Defendant and/or their insurance company fails to make a
reasonable offer under the circumstances that the decision to go to trial is
the better option.
There are several factors
to consider when making the decision to go to a trial. The first is recognizing the high risk of a
low or $0.00 verdict. If that happens,
there is the risk of you owing the defendant’s attorney’s fees and costs. Also, time and the Client’s immediate needs
(ex. pending medical care, medications and others) must be considered since
most cases do not even get to a trial until at least three to four years
following the filing of the lawsuit. There
is a large back up of cases in many districts.
Finally, there are lots of delaying tactics used by defense counsel and
the Defendant that can extend this time even further.
In general, Statistics
show that about 90-95% of personal injury cases are settled out of court. Whether to settle you case before a trial is
a decision that should be made on a case-by-case basis, as each case is unique,
and cannot be made on one factor alone. When making this decision, you should make
sure you discuss the options with an experienced attorney, who actually tries
cases, and can inform you on the pitfalls and advantages of going to
trial. If you have a case and are
considering your options, call Goldberg and
Dohan now, free of charge, to discuss your case with an attorney, who
can provide you the information you need to make the best decision for you.
