How many personal injury cases make it to trial?

What should you do with respect to an injury claim: settle or go to court? The answer depends on many personal factors such as the injury concerned, your financial situation, the likelihood of success at trial, etc. Lots of people imagine going to trial and winning a multimillion dollar verdict.

In reality though, few personal injury cases ever get to trial. How come? Here are a few reasons:

• Low chance of success at trial

• Settlement offers for a sum the injured party can live with
• Length of the legal process
• Cost
• Fear of the unknown

Personal injury cases go into trial before a jury. Juries are known for being unpredictable. They may not be sympathetic to an injured party or may have a desire to slam the entity or person responsible for the injury. It also takes years for a case to go before a judge and even longer to collect a multimillion dollar verdict.

Finally, after legal fees and various costs involved in the legal process such as depositions, writing various motions, a process server, expert witnesses, etc. the injured party may walk away with very little money after all the time and effort.

Both sides have to contend with the unpredictable nature of jury trials. Aside from this, it also takes time to determine whether a particular injury is permanent as well as its severity. Taken together, it is no wonder that most cases settle long before the trial phase.