One question every personal injury client asks us in the beginning—and often later in the representation—is whether and when we think their case will settle. Even though they have hired competent “trial lawyers,” many injured people think that cases never go to court and will never get tried, or they want to avoid that process. While most well-developed cases do settle prior to trial, not every case does, and some take more investment than others of time and money to drive a good settlement amount. In fact, if you are injured and are hoping your case will resolve early by settlement, your best strategy is to start by hiring a personal injury lawyer who is both willing to try your personal injury case, and who has a strong track record of excellent verdicts.
There are several reasons that cases do not settle right away, or at all. Some of them have to do with insurance adjusters not fairly evaluating a case and generally being unreasonable, or working for companies that limit their evaluations of a claim’s value in arbitrary ways. Adjusters will often say things like, “Those medical bills were too high for the treatment your client received” or “Your client’s doctor shouldn’t have prescribed so much therapy.” We hear insurance adjusters make this absurd argument all the time. Our response? Fine, let’s go to trial and see what a judge or jury thinks. Because we try these cases in Virginia courts—and adjusters do not—we can explain that no defense lawyer is going to convince a jury to blame our client for how much a doctor has charged him. If that’s what the bills cost in this market, then a jury is going to award the full amount as long as they believe the treatment was for the injuries at issue. When they are seeking medical care, particularly in a traumatic emergency, patients have no choice how much a provider charges. Juries understand this, and they don’t sympathize with the insurance company’s shareholders who want to lower costs. While no one likes how large the bills are, a negligent defendant is legally responsible for paying all those expenses, provided they are reasonable and customary generally.
Adjusters will also try to dispute the extent of a person’s injuries, or argue that the injuries aren’t related to the negligent event (such as a fall or car crash). When we encounter such unreasonable adjusters, we prepare to file suit and typically do so. Sometimes it takes a judge or a jury to show an adjuster what a fair case value is. Sometimes the defense lawyer who responds to the case instantly has a more reasonable estimate of case value, and will work with us to get the insurance company to pay it. Regardless, what brings credibility in these cases is a reputation for hard work and persuasion that come from trying cases—especially the hard ones. Insurance companies know the lawyers that settle every case for what they can get, rather than try the cases that need a jury’s common sense to obtain the right compensation.
Another reason cases don’t settle is because there is a “liability” dispute, meaning a disagreement about what happened and who is to blame. This is often an argument over whether the defendant breached a duty of care in a car wreck or premises injury, or the injured plaintiff breached his own duty by negligently causing the event or making it worse. Some adjusters don’t evaluate a claim fully, and rely on their own insured’s false statement that it wasn’t their fault or that someone else is to blame. They sometimes disregard the findings in a crash report prepared by the officer, or misunderstand the facts based on a quick impression. Instead of doing a full investigation into the circumstances of a claim, the adjuster just assumes (often wrongly) that a plaintiff won’t be able to prove the defendant was at-fault. A trial lawyer can lay out the evidence for the adjuster, but unless the insurance company knows you are willing to try hard cases, they won’t believe that is your intention and start to budge.
Of course, some cases have to be tried. There are times that an insurance company is too negative or stubborn, the evidence is conflicting, or each side has such a differing view of what happened, so that the only way to resolve it is in court. When you are facing that challenge, you may feel insulted or intimidated. Most people have never had to testify in a courtroom, or place very significant outcomes in their lives into the hands of seven strangers on a jury. In that situation, you need a lawyer who is comfortable in a courtroom, can answer all your questions, can help calm your nerves by removing the uncertainty, and then be willing to go try the best case possible.
So, if you find yourself seeking an attorney to handle your personal injury case, make sure you talk to various lawyers and find the ones you trust the most. Make sure that the lawyer you hire has experience trying cases and winning jury verdicts, and isn’t scared of a courtroom. While your case may settle, your goal is to get the most money possible. And that may mean going to trial.
At Munro Byrd, we enjoy trying personal injury cases, and we frequently do. But we always put our client’s goals first, whether it’s a faster resolution or a long-run trial effort. We try cases before juries and judges throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are here to help you with your case, and that begins by answering questions!
We cannot promise similar results in all cases. We litigate such cases throughout Virginia, including in Roanoke City and County, Montgomery County (Christiansburg, Blacksburg), Lynchburg, Abingdon, Martinsville, Rocky Mount, Wytheville, Bedford, Covington, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, Lexington, or Staunton. We practice in rural areas like Bath County, Campbell County, Giles County, Craig County, Smyth County, Alleghany County, Pulaski County, Franklin County, Campbell County, Carroll County, Patrick County, Floyd County, Stuart County, Pittsylvania County, Henry County, and Wythe County. We also litigate in Virginia federal courts, including those divisions in Roanoke, Abingdon, Danville, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Alexandria, and Richmond.