If you have an ongoing injury lawsuit, you can reasonably expect that your injury lawyer will approach you with a settlement offer. When precisely this will happen, though, is not always clear. It may take weeks, months, or even longer before you receive any settlement offer, much less a reasonable and acceptable settlement offer.
This experience can be highly frustrating, especially when the facts of your injury accident are clear and indisputable in your mind. However, understanding what leads to settlements in personal injury cases may help temper your expectations and provide you with a more reasonable outlook.
Why Personal Injury Cases Settle
Most lawyers understand that many legal cases will settle or resolve without seeing the interior of a courtroom. For example, the Comptroller for New York City reported that in the 2021 fiscal year, over 10,000 claims involving the city were resolved by agreement.
Settlements represent a partial victory for both the injured and responsible parties. The responsible party must pay compensation to you, but in many cases, the amount of compensation payable could be better at trial.
While you might not receive the full compensation through a settlement that a jury might award you, in most instances, you will receive payment more quickly and with less hassle through a settlement.
Reasons Settlements Can Take Some Time
If your injury lawyer has yet to approach you with a settlement offer, there may be some valid reasons why this has happened. Some of these reasons include the following:
The Responsible Party Has Not Fully Reviewed the Evidence
The party you are suing will want to review all of the available evidence before deciding whether to settle and for what amount. If there are delays in collecting evidence or turning it over to the other party, this can delay settling.
Parties named as defendants in a lawsuit are usually more eager to settle when they see that the evidence of their culpability is overwhelming and persuasive. They will only reach this conclusion after first reviewing the documents, reports, and other evidence available in the case.
The Extent of Your Injuries Is Not Clear
A reasonable settlement will compensate you fairly for your medical bills, lost wages, and other financial and non-economic injuries. If you are continuing to receive care, or if the extent of your injuries is not fully known, your injury lawyer and the other party may not want to settle right away.
Instead, they may want to wait and discuss a settlement amount once there is more information about your past and future expected losses.
Do You Need a New York Injury Lawyer to Obtain a Settlement?
While you do not need to hire an injury lawyer to help you with your case, legal representation can significantly benefit you. Your attorney can collect and document your injuries and losses and the facts of your accident. Your lawyer can also negotiate an appropriate settlement with the other side.
Learn more about the benefits of hiring a New York injury lawyer by contacting the Law Offices of Kenneth Hiller, PLLC. Request your free case consultation today.
