If you have suffered an injury in a car accident that was someone else’s fault, they will owe you money for the harm that they have caused you. In practice, getting a check for your car accident injuries is not that simple. There is even a chance that you may have to go to court to get the money that you deserve. It is hard to know exactly how often car accident claims will go to court. What is known is that car accident case trials are relatively rare.
If you have suffered an injury in a motor vehicle crash, reach out to a car accident lawyer in Nashua, NH to learn more about your legal rights and whether you may be entitled to compensation for your damages. Your car accident attorney will represent you throughout the legal process, whether it is dealing with the insurance company in a claim or fighting them in a lawsuit in court.
You Could File an Insurance Claim or Lawsuit to Seek Compensation
When you have suffered an injury in a car accident, you may have a legal right to compensation for the damages that you have suffered. It is up to you to pursue the money that you deserve, and you have several options for that. Depending on the facts of your case and the insurance company involved, you may decide to begin with the more informal claims process. Some car accident lawyers may advise you that you have nothing to lose by trying to reach a settlement agreement without having to go to court at all.
You May Have No Choice But to Go to Court
You can find yourself stonewalled in the claims process by an insurance company that may be using one of a number of tricks to get the upper hand over you. They can be unreasonably delaying your case by taking too long to respond or make you settlement offers. The insurance company could have denied your claim entirely or claimed that you were partially to blame for the accident. They can be making you a settlement offer that bears no rational relation to the true amount of money you deserve, and they refuse to raise it or even attempt to negotiate with you.
Your car accident attorney may advise you that it is best for you to begin your case in court. They may know that the individual insurance company involved in your case likes to use hardball tactics, and beginning the legal process in court may be in your best interests. Your car accident lawyer will use their professional knowledge and experience to advise you about how to begin the car accident claims process.
If you choose to begin the car accident claims process informally with the insurance company, there is nothing that says you must keep the case there permanently. You can always file a claim but then follow up with a lawsuit because you are unsatisfied with how things are going in the claims process. Your car accident lawyer will gauge how the claims process is going should you have chosen to begin your case there before deciding whether it may be better to go to court.
Not Every Case That Goes to Court Ends Up at Trial
Going to court and going to trial may be two entirely separate matters. A car accident claim can go to court, but your case may not end up in front of a jury at trial. Many things can happen between the time that you file the lawsuit and the time that a case goes to trial. In some rare instances, a judge may dismiss the case. More often, the case would end in a settlement agreement between you and the insurance company. Chances are that you will keep talking even after you have filed the lawsuit. Settlement negotiations may be ongoing, even as you and the insurance company take steps against each other in the adversarial court process.
There are numerous points during the lawsuit process when a car accident case can settle. The insurance company may become more serious about resolving the case the closer it gets to trial. Once they realize that you have built a solid case that can persuade a jury, they may take steps to manage their own risk and liability. The insurance company may be afraid of both the jury and your car accident attorney.
Only 4-6 percent of personal injury cases that go to court will end up in a trial in front of a jury. Although you may have a perception of a lawsuit as ending in a climactic and dramatic trial in court, it rarely happens. Instead, much of your accident case will be fought through motions and in depositions. A vast majority of the case happens outside the courtroom. It is exceedingly seldom that your case will ever see the inside of the courtroom because it will likely be resolved before then.
Your Car Accident Lawyer Will Give You Tailored Legal Advice
None of this is to say that you should not take your case all the way to trial. You have to do what is best in your situation based on how the insurance company is acting during the claims and litigation process. If the insurance company simply will not give you what you deserve, you will be left with no choice but to go the distance with them in court.
Even though you will be taking a risk of getting nothing from the jury, you may have no other choice to pursue the best possible result in your case. Your car accident attorney will give you legal advice as the process unfolds. At the very minimum, you should hire a personal injury lawyer who has experience in the courtroom and knows how to aggressively litigate your case if necessary. Always approach every case with the mentality that you may have to litigate, even if the odds are in favor of a settlement agreement.