Many people would rather avoid hiring an Arizona personal injury lawyer for their personal injury case. They would rather settle their claim than have to deal with courts, lawyers, and a potentially long and drawn out legal battle. Even so, when people try to handle it on their own, they often have questions about whether they should settle their personal injury case or whether they would do better by hiring a lawyer.
There is seldom an easy answer to this question, as it involves a number of factors, with details specific to each personal injury claim. Now, you may want to know what the claim is worth before deciding whether it is worth pursuing. This does not mean you should look at what amount would be fair as a settlement, however, but rather look at whether pursuing a personal injury claim would be more beneficial to the person who was injured than not pursuing it.
In nearly every personal injury case that is not settled, a jury will decide what the case ultimately is worth. It is this prospective jury, made up of people whose backgrounds are unknown, who will decide on how much the case is worth. Even if everybody you talk to says your personal injury case is worth a million dollars, and the jury decides it is worth one dollar, then that is what the injured party is more than likely to receive. Despite how terrible an accident may have been, the terrible injuries involved, and the financial losses that were brought on due to the accident, if a jury says that a personal injury claim is worth one dollar, then it is worth one dollar. So if we had a crystal ball, and knew that the jury was going to award one dollar in a judgment, and the liable party offered to settle for two dollars, we would call that a favorable settlement in any personal injury claim.
This may be difficult to accept and understand, as it goes against what we think of as fair and just, but this is how our legal system works. It is the jury who decides how much to award, and it is what the jury will award that anyone involved in a personal injury case must try to predict in order to decide whether it is worth pursuing. Only in that way can a person truly make a decision about whether it is worth it to pursue a personal injury claim.
Say we look at the above case from another perspective. This time, all the people you speak to about your personal injury case say that your case has no merit, and agree that a fair settlement then would be zero dollars. Looking into our crystal ball, and seeing that the jury would award a million dollars would mean that a settlement of even nine hundred thousand dollars would be unfavorable to the injured party.
At Breyer Law Offices, P.C., we understand that every personal injury case is different. In our many years of experience as Glendale personal injury lawyers in Arizona, we are familiar with the ins and outs of a wide range of injury cases. To learn more about your legal rights and so that you can make the best decision whether to settle your case or not, please contact us for a free consultation. Call 623-930-8064 today.
