When you file a personal injury lawsuit, you want to win to receive compensation to cover your medical bills, time spent away from work, and other financial burdens. Alternatively, if you are served a personal injury lawsuit, you want to win so you don’t have to pay out of pocket for damages that are not your fault.
In either case, it helps to know your chances of winning a personal injury lawsuit. That way, you can determine whether it’s wise to push the matter to court or settle out of court. For more information on this topic, contact Schwartzapfel Lawyers at 1-516-342-2200 for a free case evaluation and consultation.
Do All Personal Injury Lawsuits Result in a Verdict?
No. In fact, the vast majority of personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court. That means they don’t receive an official verdict. No one wins or loses; instead, both parties involved in the dispute come to a settlement regarding financial payments, admissions of guilt, and more.
According to the Department of Justice, 97% of personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court. Only 3% are settled in court and have the possibility of being won” by one side or the other.
Therefore, your chances of winning a personal injury lawsuit are already quite low but not because you might lose! Rather, you should remember that the odds indicate you will likely settle out of court with the other person involved in your dispute.
Going To Court vs. Settling Out of Court
There are many reasons why you might decide to settle out of court instead of pushing for a trial.
Personal injury trials can be advantageous in some circumstances, such as when you have overwhelming evidence supporting your argument. In a personal injury trial, you have the option to win the case outright, potentially resulting in major damages and higher financial compensation.
However, personal injury trials are also time-consuming and can cost you more money than settling out of court. The longer your trial goes on, the longer you need to retain legal professionals, and the more court fees you’ll need to pay. All of those factors can impact how much money you make in aggregate or overall.
Meanwhile, settling out of court has its own advantages, including:
- A faster resolution to your legal dispute
- Potentially seeing a higher payout when accounting for increased legal fees associated with going to court
When you settle out of court, you don’t win” your personal injury lawsuit outright. However, you can still get the outcome you desire and are entitled to, such as securing compensation from an at-fault party’s insurance company or something else.
For more on this and related topics, call Schwartzapfel Lawyers now at 1-516-342-2200.
What Affects a Personal Injury Lawsuit’s Verdict?
Personal injury lawsuit verdicts, whether they are awarded by judges or juries, can be affected by many factors. These factors vary depending on individual cases, which is why no attorney can flatly guarantee an outcome or victory for any client. If you encounter an attorney who does promise a guaranteed outcome, do not rely on them for your legal needs.
Evidence
Naturally, evidence gathered and presented during trial can affect the verdict for a lawsuit. Evidence can take many different forms, including but not limited to:
- Police reports, which are official documented reports from the police officers or department at the scene of an incident or accident. Police reports often include eyewitness accounts, descriptions of physical evidence, and other key information.
- Notes from medical professionals, like doctor analyses of injuries. This can be invaluable when proving how your injuries were sustained or where they likely came from.
- Traffic camera footage or security camera footage inside buildings.
- Video footage or photos of the scene of the incident, any associated damage, and any injuries sustained.
- Eyewitness accounts and testimonies. However, eyewitness accounts alone are not normally enough to secure a successful verdict in a personal injury lawsuit because they can be unreliable or difficult to substantiate with other evidence.
It can be difficult to gather enough evidence to secure a lawsuit victory alone. Personal injury attorneys such as Schwartzapfel Lawyers can help you get the physical evidence you need while you recover from your injuries, whatever they may be.
Testimony
Gathering evidence isn’t enough to secure a victory in many cases. You must also present the evidence compellingly in court, either to a judge or jury.
Witness testimony, expert testimony, and the presentation of evidence can go a long way toward swaying the jury or judge to your side of things. That’s why, if you hire knowledgeable legal representatives, they will coach you on how to talk and dress in court.
When you hire Schwartzapfel Lawyers, we can ensure that you show up to court on time and that you present yourself well to your jury. In this way, you can maximize your chances of recovering compensation or defending yourself from charges of negligence or fault.
Injuries Sustained
The kind of injuries you sustained from your incident or accident will also affect the outcome and your chances of victory. If, for instance, someone tries to sue you for a minor injury, like a small cut, their lawsuit will likely not be successful!
However, if your injuries are particularly severe and/or debilitating, you may have a higher chance of getting the compensation and damages you’re entitled to. If your injuries can clearly be tied to the negligence or behavior of the accused party, you’ll be more likely to win your case, especially if they are visible.
Insurance Policy Limits
Most personal injury lawsuits don’t involve taking money from accused individuals. For instance, if you are involved in an auto accident and sue the other driver for damages, any compensation you do receive will come from that individual’s insurance provider.
Insurance policy limits limit how much compensation you can receive and your chances of a personal injury lawsuit victory. If the insurance policy limit is $100,000, you may only receive up to this amount maximum no matter how overwhelmingly in your favor the evidence might be.
Legal Professionals
Your chosen legal professionals can further influence the outcome of any personal injury case. That’s why it’s important to choose the right attorneys for your needs.
A good law firm will:
- Have extensive experience in the personal injury area of legal representation. Schwartzapfel Lawyers has 150+ years of combined experience helping people just like you with personal injury cases across the Empire State. Call us today at 1-516-342-2200 to learn how we can fight for you!
- Operate on a contingency fee basis so you don’t have to worry about paying your lawyers before you have enough money.
- Be upfront and honest about your case’s chances, as well as offer sound legal counsel throughout the process.
- Fight for you in court and provide your case with the resources necessary to succeed. Never hire a law firm that has too many cases to juggle, as you may not get the attention you require.
What Are Your Chances of Winning a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
So, what are your overall chances of winning your personal lawsuit? That depends on the above factors, but you should consult with your legal representatives for a straight answer.
Knowledgeable personal injury attorneys can roughly estimate your chances of winning a lawsuit, though they should not guarantee any individual outcome. In fact, if an attorney tells you they can guarantee that your personal injury lawsuit will be a success, look elsewhere for legal representation.
Even the most apparently cut-and-dry cases can have curveballs or evidence that appears to throw the outcome into doubt. Great attorneys do everything they can to prepare for these possibilities, but they can’t anticipate everything.
Your chances of winning a personal injury lawsuit might be high, or they might be low. They may alternatively be somewhere in between.
Bottom Line: Ask your lawyers what they think your chances of victory are and use that information to determine your next legal steps.
Winning vs. Settling for a Reasonable Amount
Additionally, you should consider whether it’s worthwhile to push for a full legal victory or if you should settle for a more reasonable amount or settlement offer.
For instance, say you are involved in an auto accident with a negligent driver. The insurance company offers to pay you up to $50,000, which is the driver’s insurance policy limit. However, your medical bills total $55,000.
You initially want to take the at-fault driver to court so you can recover the full amount of your medical bills and associated expenses. However, your attorneys tell you that you could see less than that amount after deducting legal fees, attorney fees, and beyond, even if the judge awards you $55,000.
That’s why it’s important to consider settlement offers carefully. If the at-fault party in the above hypothetical case offered you a $50,000 settlement, your attorneys might recommend you take it to save time and energy.
A win doesn’t always mean a verdict from a judge. Instead, think of winning” your personal injury lawsuit as getting what you need or are entitled to as best as you can.
Contact Schwartzapfel Lawyers Today
Your chances of winning a personal injury lawsuit are highly contingent on the unique factors of your case, your personal injuries, and the knowledge of your legal team. With the right lawyers on your side, you can maximize your chances of winning your lawsuit and recovering enough damages to cover your financial challenges.
That’s why you should contact Schwartzapfel Lawyers right away. As experienced and knowledgeable New York City personal injury lawyers, we’re more than ready to help your case succeed by gathering evidence, negotiating with insurance companies on your behalf, and providing numerous other legal services as well.
Best of all, we operate on a contingency fee basis. That means you won’t have to pay us a penny unless we first recover damages for you. Contact us today online or at 1-516-342-2200 for a free consultation and so much more!
Sources:
Schwartzapfel Lawyers, P.C. | Fighting For You™™
Bureau of Justice Statistics | U.S. Department of Justice
Five Ways to Keep Disputes Out of Court | Harvard Business Review
