Should You Go To Court Or Settle?
Brian O Sutter
Personal Injury
If you, or someone close to you like a friend or family member is involved in an accident with permanent injuries, or even a death, this is will be a moment of great stress and trauma. If that injury or death could have been easily avoided if someone else had been doing their job, or simply paying more attention, then it is an injustice that does not have to be tolerated. When something like this happens, that’s when you need a Southwest Florida personal injury lawyer. You need someone with the experience to go up against the people or companies that are responsible for the suffering or death, and make sure they don’t get away with it. But this then presents you with a very important question about your priorities. What are you trying to accomplish with your case? Do you want to make sure that the negligent party pays what they should? Or do you want to punish them?
Depending on your needs, you may want to go forward with taking the other party to court. Or, if you are offered an out of court settlement, you may want to accept it. Which one is right for you?
Getting Your Due
In some cases, the most pressing need will be making sure that proper financial compensation is secured. If there’s a debilitating injury that is going to have a lifelong, negative impact on everything from work to a normal life, financial compensation is important.
The party being sued may realize this, and see that there’s a lot of evidence being gathered that will make a verdict in court almost a foregone conclusion. When it’s obvious that you are going to win your case, it may sometimes be decided for the best interests of everyone involved to make you an offer before the case goes to trial, and wrap things up as quickly as possible. A good personal injury lawyer will make sure that if there is an offer on an out of court settlement, it’s one that is far to you.
Not Letting Them Get Away With It
On the other hand, if an act that injures—or even kills—someone is perpetrated by a company or person that wants to avoid a public controversy, an out of court settlement may not be what you want. Sometimes, settling a case out of court is simply a way for another party to keep doing what they did to you, because the news of their actions is kept out of the public eye, thanks to avoiding a court case.
So, for example, if a company’s negligence caused the death of your child, they might offer you a generous sum in order to keep the case out of court. You know that if you accept the money, someone else’s child may be endangered because you let them continue to operate in secrecy. In this instance, you may feel it is more important for the word to get out, and for other families to be made aware of danger. A personal injury or wrongful death attorney can be invaluable in making sure this happens.