How Often Do Personal Injury Claims Go To Court?

When you imagine settling your personal injury claim, you may imagine a courtroom drama: a judge’s gavel pounding down, the verdict announced in a condemning tone of voice that shows the judge’s contempt for the party that caused your injury, and all the challenges the insurance company may have thrown in your way as you tried to get the compensation you deserve for your injuries.

It may offer an incredibly satisfying dream, especially if you have dealt with a great deal of frustration while negotiating for the settlement you deserve.

On the other hand, going to court may seem like a difficult proposition. You may have lingering limitations related to your injuries that you still have to deal with: broken bones that still bring you pain or a traumatic brain injury that may make it incredibly difficult for you to present a clear, reasoned statement about the accident and your injuries. Not only that, you may need the compensation from your accident as soon as possible, and going to court sounds like it has the potential to drag that process out even longer.

Just how often do personal injury claims actually go to court?

By The Numbers: How Many Personal Injury Claims Go To Court?

According to the US Department of Justice, only around 3 percent of tort cases, or the area of law made up of personal injury claims, end up settled at court. In most cases, the parties involved in the claim reach a pre-trial verdict, either through negotiation before the claim ever makes it before the court or in mediation with a judge, retired judge, or experienced Orlando personal injury attorney.

Insurance Companies Prefer To Settle Out Of Court

The vast majority of insurance companies prefer to settle personal injury claims out of court when they can—and with good reason.

Going to court can significantly increase the cost of settling a claim.

Some insurance companies, especially large ones, have their own internal legal teams, which may decrease their overall costs. However, gearing up for a trial can still have immense costs to the insurance company—and the liable party’s insurance company often ends up having to pay the legal fees and other bills associated with the court appearance.

In addition, in most cases, the insurance company knows that the client it covers bears liability for the accident and that it will end up having to pay out compensation for the injuries sustained by the victim.

A court battle can bring negative publicity to the company.

When you have a liable entity, like a company, rather than a single liable party, the liable entity may want to avoid the publicity often associated with a court case. Going to court over the claim may mean a more public admission of guilt.

Not only that, a company that refuses to pay out compensation for the injuries it caused may not look as good in the public eye, which may cause the liable company to want to reach a settlement agreement before it goes before the public. Negative publicity may have a greater overall cost to the company as a whole.

Why Do Personal Injury Claims End Up In Court?

While most personal injury claims do settle out of court, there are some cases in which a personal injury claim might end up going to court. Sometimes, even an experienced personal injury attorney cannot predict the insurance company’s unwillingness to reach a settlement agreement—and corresponding willingness to go to court.

Other times, however, an attorney may see some signs that the insurance company may prefer going to court to paying out the full compensation the liable party deserves. You may have a greater likelihood of ending up in court over your personal injury claim if your case falls into these categories.

You suffered severe injuries in your accident, and, therefore, need to ask for substantial compensation for those injuries.

Insurance companies often do not want to pay out the maximum compensation an accident victim deserves, even if the victim has suffered the kinds of substantial injuries that should obligate the insurance company to pay out that compensation. If you suffered severe injuries in your accident, you may have high, ongoing medical costs associated with your injuries.

The cost of treating a spinal cord injury, for example, may rise to more than $1 million in the first year after the accident alone, and most spinal cord injury victims can expect ongoing medical costs for the rest of their lives.

Victims who suffer traumatic brain injury may find themselves unable to work in their chosen professions for more than a year after the initial accident, even if they suffered a “minor” traumatic brain injury.

Burn victims may have long-term hospitalization costs, including a stay in a burn unit—and if they suffered complications during recovery, they may have ended up with medical bills that grew even higher.

If you suffered those injuries due to the negligence of another party, and that party has coverage through liability insurance that should offer protection to you, as the victim, you may deserve that compensation for your injuries.

The insurance company, however, may fight to reduce that compensation as much as possible. In some cases, the insurance company may allow the case to go to court to cut the damages it has to pay.

Liability for the accident remains unclear.

Some accident scenarios include a cut-and-dried look at who may bear liability for the accident. For example, suppose that you suffer injuries in a truck accident. The truck driver fell asleep at the wheel, and the truck drifted across the centerline, ultimately striking you in a head-on collision. Clearly, the truck driver bears liability for the accident.

On the other hand, suppose the truck driver, rather than falling asleep at the wheel, simply became distracted for a moment. The truck drifted across the centerline. You know that it entered your lane. However, the truck driver claims that you grew distracted and crossed into his lane.

You have neither witness statements nor video footage of the actual accident, and at the scene of the accident, the two cars came to rest in a way that made it impossible to determine at a glance who actually crossed over the centerline. As a result, you may struggle to prove liability for your accident and the injuries you sustained.

If the liable party’s insurance company can find evidence that may help dispute liability, including any statements made by you that might indicate that you bear some liability for the accident, the insurance company may push to take the claim to court.

In some cases, going to court may prove less expensive than paying out the full compensation you deserve. Not only that, sometimes, the insurance company may prove that another party bears full liability for the accident, which would mean that the insurance company does not have to pay out compensation at all. In those cases, the insurance company may find going to court well worth the potential expense.

The insurance company disputes the extent of your injuries.

Serious injuries from an accident can permanently change the course of your life, leaving you with long-term limitations and ongoing financial challenges, particularly as you handle your medical bills.

You may have clearly laid out what medical treatments you received, their cost, and the limitations your injuries have caused in your life. You may even have medical records from medical professionals and clear evidence of the limitations posed by the accident and your injuries.

Unfortunately, the liable party’s insurance company may refuse to accept them.

The insurance company may use several tactics in an attempt to prove that your injuries do not pose the limitations you claim, or to dispute the amount you seek in compensation for your injuries.

The insurance company may try to claim that you suffered fewer injuries than you claim in the accident.

In some cases, the insurance company may try to claim that you could not have suffered injuries as severe as you claim in the accident. Suppose, for example, that you have severe, chronic whiplash from a relatively low-speed rear-end collision.

The liable driver’s auto insurance company may attempt to claim that you could not have suffered whiplash due to the speed of the accident. The insurance company may accuse you of “faking” your injuries. Often, insurance companies will use this tactic with regards to back and neck pain, since those types of injuries may prove more difficult to diagnose effectively.

The insurance company may try to claim that you do not suffer the limitations you claim from your injuries.

Despite acknowledging that you suffered specific injuries in the accident, and that those injuries did occur at that time, the insurance company may try to show that those injuries do not pose the limitations you claim as part of your personal injury lawsuit.

Suppose, for example, that you suffered a serious back injury in your accident. You may have a hard time getting around. Some days, your injuries may keep you confined to bed or your couch. The insurance company, however, may try to insist that your injuries should not pose such substantial limitations.

Often, insurance companies will use evidence from your social media page or even communications with the insurance agents to try to establish that your injuries do not limit you as much as you claim.

While you know that you ended up in bed for days after that outing with friends, for example, the insurance company may try to use it to establish the fact that your accident limits you less than you claim. Keeping those posts off social media can go a long way toward preventing that challenge from the insurance company as you move forward with your claim.

The insurance company may try to claim that you did not really need treatments outlined in your personal injury lawsuit.

Your medical bills can prove critically important as you move forward with your personal injury claim. They help establish the costs you have faced as a result of your injuries and can serve as the basis for your entire claim. If the insurance company can avoid paying for certain procedures, it may alleviate some of the financial strain associated with paying out your claim.

Suppose, for example, that you needed plastic surgery as a result of severe facial injuries. You required more than one procedure due to complications from the original. The insurance company may attempt to claim that the second procedure offered no measurable benefit and that it should not have to pay out for that procedure.

The insurance company disputes that your injuries and limitations occurred in the accident.

People with preexisting conditions may have the greatest likelihood of finding themselves in the position of disputing how their injuries occurred.

For example, you might have chronic back pain due to repetitive stress injuries acquired at work. In your accident, you may have suffered a herniated disc, which worsened your pain and led to substantial limitations. Before your accident, you may have coped perfectly well with your pain and limitations, but the accident has caused you to miss work and left you unable to enjoy many of the activities that once made up your daily life.

The insurance company, however, may try to claim that your back pain results from your previous activities, rather than from the accident—and as a result, that you do not deserve compensation for the suffering you have faced since the accident.

Do you have questions about your personal injury claim, including the likelihood that it will have to go to court? An experienced personal injury attorney can give you a better idea of what to expect—and, if you do have to go to court, support you while you seek the compensation you deserve.