What goes into deciding whether to settle or litigate a case?

On behalf of Aiken and Aiken P.C. Personal Injury Attorneys posted in Car Accidents, on Thursday, August 20, 2015

В If you have ever been called for jury duty, then you may be familiar with the experience of having to call into the courthouse the night before the trial is set to begin to verify that you will in fact be needed to serve. And your experience may have included the sense of relief when you learn that the case did not go to trial, after all. It settled beforehand. The vast majority — some say up to nine of every ten civil lawsuits — settle out of court before a verdict is reached. A case may reach settlement at any time, from the preliminary stages of trial preparation up to and including into the trial itself. So what considerations go into deciding when to settle, or when to take a matter all the way through trial?One major consideration can be costs. Just to prepare a car accident case for trial can be expensive, sometimes. And to actually litigate the matter can be more expensive still. Aside from any attorney fees, there are also court costs, costs in connection with discovery, expert witness fees, investigation expenses, and more. Particularly when the claimed damages are not great, an individual may even reach a point in which the cost of litigation can be more than the damages sought.Another factor to consider is time. Trying a civil matter in Massachusetts can take months or even years before the trial actually begins, but something like medical expenses can reach a breaking point before then, and a settlement offer that can be carried out immediately can become attractive in such a circumstance.Uncertainty can also play a role. Your attorney may be very good, and you may believe that your case is strong, but in the end it will be a jury who decides who wins in a lawsuit, and these are people you do not know and have no control over. You can’t predict with certainty how they will decide. A settlement, on the other hand, is entirely within the control of the parties to the dispute.By working closely with your attorney, you can have a good idea of whether your personal injury legal matter is one of the minority that needs to go all the way to a verdict, or if it is more practical to settle the matter before then.