Will I Need to Go to Court For My Personal Injury Case?

Maybe you were hit by a car while you were cycling to work. Perhaps you suffered a dog bite when  that nasty next door dog somehow escaped his fenced yard, chased you down and bit your ankle. Or maybe you slipped on a puddle of liquid at your local coffee shop and dislocated your shoulder. These personal injuries are actionable in the state of California meaning that, if you meet the legal requirements, you can be compensated for your injuries.  

In California, personal injury is any physical, psychological or emotional injury caused by another party due to negligence or willful misconduct. Negligence is typically shown by proving that the responsible party, who is called the “defendant” in a lawsuit, failed to meet the requisite standard of care. The elements of a legal case for personal injury include the following:

• The defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff
• The defendant breached the duty of care
• The defendant’s breach of care was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries
• The injuries are compensable 

Before you meet with your attorney, you need to gather all pertinent documentation. This can include medical records, witness statements, pictures of property damage and personal injuries, and similar evidence. Your attorney will review it and make an evaluation about whether you have a colorable claim. A colorable claim which means that your legal argument is plausible and has a reasonable chance of being valid if the facts and legal basis are correct. 

Once all of the facts have been gathered, your attorney will likely send a demand letter to the defendant and his insurance company and/or attorney. This letter will set out your view of the case with supporting facts and documentation, and ask for a certain amount of money to compensate you for your injuries. Typically, these amounts are reimbursable to you:

• Economic damages – These are your out-of-pocket costs, including medical expenses (ambulance, doctor’s fees, rehabilitation charges, prescription drug costs, etc.) and lost wages.
• Non-economic damages – These are more speculative, and include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other damages such as loss of consortium. Loss of consortium compensates your spouse for loss of companionship and love. 

In the vast majority of cases, a settlement will be reached by the parties and  you will not have to go to court to prosecute your personal injury case. In fact, according to the California Judicial Council, only about 5% of personal injury cases proceed to trial in our state.

Reasons For Settlement

What are the reasons that most cases result in settlement? In most cases, settlement results in quicker outcomes. The civil trial docket is quite full in California, and there can be long waits, months or years, to have a personal injury case heard in the courtroom. By contrast, settlements can occur relatively quickly after the accident, within several months and generally in less than a year.

In addition, trial outcomes are less certain than settlement offers. While the vast majority of jurors take their responsibilities seriously, cases of bias are well-documented which can skew the ultimate resort in a trial situation. Types of biases shown by jurors include:

• Confirmation bias – This bias occurs when a juror can only see information that supports their own beliefs
• Fundamental attribution error – This bias happens when a juror attributes a person’s behavior to stereotypes, rather than to the actual circumstances of the accident
• Anchoring bias – This bias occurs when a juror bases their opinion on the first information they receive in a case, and are unable to integrate in their decision-making facts that come out later in the case.

And, of course, there are a variety of personal biases including racism, sexism, homophobia and other biases that can cause a juror to ignore important information. 

Another benefit to a settlement is that it’s possible to keep the details of the settlement confidential. In most cases this is done through execution of a Confidentiality Agreement by the parties. There are many reasons that a plaintiff or a defendant may desire to keep the specifics of the personal injury and the settlement amount out of public scrutiny, and this is possible only with a settlement that is negotiated out of court.

And cost is often a very important factor leading a plaintiff toward settlement. The financial impact includes court costs, expert witness fees and, of course, your attorneys fees. All of these will shape the financial profile of moving forward to a trial.  

Finally, California law encourages settlement under its Code of Civil Procedure, and can be facilitated through mandatory settlement conferences and mediation.

Reasons for Trial

There are multiple reasons why the case may proceed to trial rather than result in a settlement agreed to by the parties. 

The insurance company may feel strongly that the facts of the case are in their favor. So, they will reject your claim and wait for your law firm to file a lawsuit to proceed to trial. The insurance company may also believe that the financial recovery demanded by your attorney is too high for the insurance company to accept. And in some cases, going to trial is a matter of principle. Insurance companies sometimes attempt to send a message about a certain type of case, such as a toxic court case, to keep other parties from bringing claims. 

Contact a Santa Ana Personal Injury Attorney

A number of factors influence the decision to settle a personal injury case in California. These include the strength of evidence, the severity of injuries, the available insurance under the defendant’s policy, and the potential for shared fault under California’s comparative negligence system. Your Santa Ana personal injury attorney will evaluate these factors, considering relevant case law the the California Civil Jury Instructions, to advise you. We have many years of experience working with clients on their personal injury matters, and always have your best interest in the forefront. Contact the Law Offices of Benjamin Arsenian today.