Should You Settle Your Personal Injury Claim or Go to Trial?

Many accident victims assume their personal injury case will go to trial and are surprised to find out that fewer than 1% ever get that far. Our firm can usually settle cases for a fair, meaningful amount of compensation with the defendant or their insurance company. Nonetheless, going to trial remains a possibility, and it’s ultimately up to the accident victim to decide if they want to accept a defendant’s proposed settlement.

When Should You Settle?

Settling has many advantages:

• You receive compensation much faster than if you went to trial. The Oregon courts are so backlogged that you almost certainly will wait a year or longer to have your day in front of a judge and jury. We can usually settle faster, allowing you to access badly needed compensation.
• You eliminate the risk of losing at trial. We only accept a personal injury case if we believe it has merit. Nonetheless, it’s impossible to predict with 100% accuracy how a jury will react to evidence. By settling, you remove the risk that the jury will decide you are at fault or not seriously injured. A settlement provides certainty that you will receive something. In addition, trials costs money and a lost trial means that a victim will have to assume those costs and potentially pay money to cover the cost of the trial rather than receive a verdict in their favor.
• You receive something if the defendant has no resources. A defendant might not have any resources like cash in a bank. However, they do have a liability insurance policy. If the insurer is willing to settle for the policy maximum, then settlement is the right choice.

Although we seek to settle most claims, we might still file a lawsuit. This step protects your rights to compensation. If we didn’t file, then the defendant would have little incentive to make a good faith settlement proposal.

When Does Going to Trial Make Sense?

With a trial, an injured victim could potentially obtain more compensation if they win. However, this possibility is offset by the risk of losing or receiving too little.

When we end up litigating all the way to trial it is because the defendant refuses to make a good faith settlement offer.

• Disagreement about who is at fault for the accident. The defendant’s insurer might deny their insured is responsible in any way. Or they claim our client is mostly to blame for the accident. Disagreements about fault make it impossible to negotiate effectively, so we might need to submit that question of fault to a jury.
• Skepticism about your injuries. The defendant might believe you are not really injured, or they dispute the amount of compensation you request. Some defendants will allege you are to blame for your pain because you stopped medical care too early or that all of your pain is due to some other cause (like a pre-existing condition or old age).
• No insurance. Some defendants lack insurance, but they might have ample financial resources, such as money in a bank account. Filing a lawsuit could make sense when the defendant fails to propose a fair settlement.

We Win Personal Injury Cases in Portland, Oregon

Rosenbaum Law Group, PC, goes the extra mile for our clients. We can assist anyone hurt in a fall, motor vehicle wreck, or other accident. Contact us to schedule a free consultation with a Portland personal injury lawyer.

Source:

oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_12.110