Injury Compensation Claim: When to Take it to Court

If someone else hurt you- either on purpose or by mistake through their negligence- you may have a legal right to recover your damages from them through an injury compensation claim. This is true whether you were injured by your doctor's negligence, your neighbor's dog, a slippery floor, a dangerous driver, or a defective product.

Personal Injury Compensation Claim and Settlements

Changes are, if you do decide to file a lawsuit or injury insurance compensation claim, you will be offered a settlement by the other party. These settlements are offered because insurance companies who defend negligent individuals, or corporations who are sued for their negligence, want to control their costs and minimize the risk of a large jury award... so, when should you accept one of these settlements and when should you take your case to court?

When To Let a Jury Decide?

Whether or not to take your case to court depends on a number of factors:

How strong is your case. Unless you have a lot of evidence in your favor and it is likely you will win, you usually don't want to take a chance of taking the case to court, losing and getting nothing
How fair is the settlement in light of the damages you could get in court: In court, you can recover for pain and suffering, emotional disturbance, lost wages, medical bills and other damages including - in some cases- punitive damages. If the settlement is much less than a jury verdict would be, then you may want to think twice about taking it. This is especially true in cases where there is potential for very high punitive damages (i.e. cases where the defendant was grossly negligent or hurt you on purpose)
Is there more money available? If you are dealing with an individual's insurance company, then you can collect from that insurance company only up to the policy limits- anything else you'd have to collect directly from the person who hurt you. If that person has no money, winning a larger verdict wouldn't help you very much since he wouldn't be able to pay it anyway.

Getting Help

Before you decide whether to take your personal injury claim to court or whether to settle your personal injury claims, consult with an experienced personal injury attorney. Your attorney can explain to you what you might receive if you went to court, and can evaluate the settlement in light of how much is offered and what your chances of winning would be if you did go to court.

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