You feel comfortable with your auto accident lawyer. You have successfully filed your personal injury lawsuit and you know that you have good grounds for a reasonable chance of success. The accident was completely the other driver's fault and the reason for the accident was entirely preventable.
The other driver has just laid to rest the pending criminal charges and you and your auto accident lawyer are ready to take your personal injury lawsuit in front of a jury. The other driver auto accident lawyer has left a message for your auto accident lawyer, the other driver wants to discuss a personal injury settlement. This can raise a lot of questions faster than they can be answered.
Personal injury lawsuits that end in personal injury settlements don't always mean the obvious. Sometimes, the opposing side realizes the strength of the case against them and wants to offer something they can live with rather than take the chance that a jury will award a judgment so high that they will lose everything.
Other times, the emotional burden that the pending personal injury lawsuit is taking on them after dealing with the legal aspects of the case is just too taxing, regardless of their own belief of guilt or innocence. Sometimes a person just needs the stress to go away badly enough that they will pay anything in order to make it disappear from their lives. This is reasonable.
So as your auto accident lawyer discusses the presented options with you, it is best not to jump to conclusions about the motivations behind the opposing party's decision to discuss a personal injury settlement.
Personal injury lawsuits can go either way in a courtroom. You were there. You know how wrong the other driver was and you know how right you are. However, the opposing side's auto accident lawyer just has this knack for making any innocent mistakes you may have made seem as though you were scheming this whole thing up from the beginning because you wanted a big pay day at the end of your personal injury lawsuit.
By the end of his line of questioning, the opposing side's auto accident lawyer has you questioning your own motives for just a brief second. Of course your auto accident lawyer is able to step in and undo the damage. But what is it they say? Damage undone is damage that was never spoken.
Once the words, whether they are true or just a fabrication of a very creative auto accident lawyer, are out there to be heard by the jury they aren't going to disregard it no matter how often the judge instructs them to. The point of that longwinded explanation is that just because you are confident, you should still listen to the opposing auto accident lawyer's offer for a personal injury settlement. Court rooms are notoriously unpredictable. If the offer is fair, use caution with becoming greedy.
Discussing a personal injury settlement doesn't mean that preparations for the personal injury lawsuit are placed on hold. It just means that the opposing party is looking for an easier, smoother, and softer way out of this. Being granted a high award by a jury doesn't mean that you get to walk out of the court room with a big cardboard check to hold you over until the real one can be written in a private back office.
The defendant and his auto accident lawyer have a given time frame to file an appeal, and of course continuously appealing a judgment can tie up the payments for years. A personal injury settlement is much faster for both the defendant as well as the plaintiff.
It can be undoubtedly frustrating to be caught between continuing on with a personal injury lawsuit or turning your attention to negotiations for a personal injury settlement. It is times such as these that your auto accident lawyer truly earns his keep. Listen to his or her counsel. He or she will not give you a directive or tell you what to do, but they will explain what your options are, why things might be better in one arena than the other, and buy you as much time as possible to think about it.
Sure, it's big decision but it's one that you ultimately are responsible for. The guidance of your auto accident lawyer is just that, it is guidance. If you are more comfortable taking your personal injury lawsuit in front of a jury than walking away with a fixed amount of money earlier with a personal injury settlement, only you can decide that. Perhaps the other driver's actions were so outrageous you feel the need to carry your personal injury lawsuit all the way to the end.
Sometimes, a personal injury settlement is the most fair for both sides of the table. This is only a decision that can be made by you.
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