If you’ve been hurt in a car accident, you may be thinking that an accident injury lawsuit is the best course of action when it comes to recovering the money you need to pay your bills and get back to normal life. And — with a few caveats — it’s true that you probably should pursue either an auto accident injury claim or an accident injury lawsuit. But if you choose to file a lawsuit, you should go in with realistic expectations, not ones inflated by shady auto accident injury attorneys. Here are three important pieces of information an honest personal injury attorney will always tell you before you take legal action:
- You Might Not Win Your Case
There are simply no guarantees when it comes to lawsuits. Before you make any demands or file any paperwork, you should sit down with an attorney to talk about the details of your case and how much evidence you have on your side; this can give you a fairly good expectation of how strong your case is overall. But sometimes you can lose a case even when you have what seems like an extremely strong position.
- A Settlement Might Be Best
Some attorneys like to posture by saying they’ll fight for you in court till the very end, rather than accepting a settlement. But the bottom line is that in many cases, a settlement is actually the best course of action — there’s a reason less than 5% of personal injury cases end up going to court. If you can get a settlement offer that meets your needs, you may want to accept it and move on with your life.
- This Could Take Some Time
If you do decide to fight in court, you need to be prepared to hang on for a while. It’s hard to even give a representational average length of personal injury cases; some are settled in only a few weeks, while others drag on for months or even years because of appeals. If you want to fight until the bitter end, you’ll need to be emotionally and financially prepared (since extended legal action can delay your receiving compensation).
What else should people know before investing money or time in an accident injury lawsuit? Join the discussion in the comment.