You were involved in a significant collision with a truck driver, and you have the lasting injuries that prove it. Though you’ve worked hard in physical therapy and been doing all you can to recover, you know that this is not going to be an easy situation to get through.
As someone with serious injuries, it’s important for you to hold the truck driver and their employer responsible for what happened to you, but that may seem overwhelming with everything else that is happening right now. You may be worried that you’ll have to go to court or stand before a judge or jury.
Fortunately, the majority of cases like yours don’t ever have to go to court. Your attorney can help you settle so that you can keep your privacy and get the compensation you need without a drawn-out court case.
Settlement negotiations can be informal
Settlement negotiations are generally less formal than going to court, which is helpful for those who are concerned about the heavily structured and stressful situation that a court date would create. Settlement negotiations can happen between your attorney and the other party’s insurance agency (or the other parties directly). When the other party makes an offer, your attorney will let you know what it is. You’ll go through it and determine if it provides enough compensation for medical care, lost wages and other financial impacts that the crash caused. If it’s enough, you can take the settlement. If it’s not, you can continue to negotiate.
The goal of settling is to avoid trial, but that doesn’t always work out. In the case that the other party won’t settle for a fair amount, you can pursue your claim in court and ask the judge to rule on the case.