One of the options that wealthy individuals and businesses have when they’re facing a lawsuit is offering the party that wants to sue them a settlement. The settlement will be calculated to be enough to entice the suing party to take it but not so much that it would end up being more than the defendant would be found liable for in court. This calculation is something that does not take the person filing the lawsuit or their interests into account, of course, and you need a personal injury attorney if you’re given such an offer.
What Your Attorney Understands
If you know anything about law, you probably know that past cases establish precedents that guide future applications of the law. Where personal injury attorneys are concerned, what has happened in the past is very important. It provides one of the guidelines that they can use to determine how much you should seek in damages.
The attorney will take a look at these past cases, your situation and any other information that is relevant and come up with a figure. This figure will be chosen for being realistic, fair and because it provides you and your family with adequate relief from your suffering and your financial damages to an acceptable extent.
Your attorney will be able to take a look at the figure you were offered and see if it’s a sincere offer to make things right and to save you and the other party the costs of going to court or if it’s an insult being offered to you because the other party decided that you probably wouldn’t know any better. Your attorney will know the reality of this situation. If they see a good offer in front of you, they’ll tell you that it may be a good idea for you to take it. If the other party is offering you something less that you deserve, you’ll know.
How Settlements Work
You can be offered a settlement almost up to the second that your trial begins. If the other party comes forward with one directly to you, you need to talk to your attorney about it. If you have an attorney, it’s in the defendant’s interest to go around your attorney and to negotiate directly with you and you can be sure that they know as much.
Your personal injury attorney will help to negotiate the sum. They will not take a settlement without your consent and any attorney who did so would open themselves up to being sued by their former client. The ultimate decision will be your own. The attorney will tell you what your best options are and what they think your odds of winning more in court actually are.
Trust your attorney if you’re in a situation where you’re being offered a settlement and if you’re not sure whether it’s worth taking or not. A good personal injury attorney can make sure that you at least know the reality of the situation and whether or not it’s a respectful offer.