What Percentage of Personal Injury Cases Go to Trial?
Accidents can happen anywhere and at any time, whether it’s a car crash or an unexpected fall. If these injuries you sustained were the result of another person’s negligent or reckless behavior, it’s crucial that you speak with a personal injury attorney. The team at Chanfrau & Chanfrau can help you hold that negligent party accountable for their actions.
Many personal injury clients in the greater Daytona Beach and Palm Coast, FL area have questions about their case will be going to trial. Chances are that a case will be settled out of court, however. Let’s consider some statistics and estimates about the number of personal injury cases that actually go all the way to trial.
An Overview of Total Personal Injury Cases
Of the 84.2 million incoming cases for all United States trial courts in 2016, approximately 18 percent were civil cases, which includes personal injury litigation. These figures come from the Court Statistics Project.
Only a Fraction of Personal Injury Cases Go to Trial
While millions of civil lawsuits are filed each year, the vast majority of these civil cases will never go to trial. According to the Law Dictionary, only 4 or 5 percent of all civil cases go to trial. The other 95 percent of cases are typically resolved outside of court through settlements and/or mediation.
According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), there were only 26,948 civil case trials in the United States in the year 2005. While these numbers are from more than a decade ago, they do give a sense of how rare proceeding to trial is for the vast majority of injury victims.
Why Is This Number So Small?
There are a few factors the play into the small number of personal injury cases that proceed to trial.
- A Matter of Time - Going to trial can take months, even years. Rather than wait so long to go to court, settlements provide a quicker resolution.
- A Matter of Cost - Going to trial is expensive, and many people prefer to avoid the legal fees that come with a lengthy court battle.
- A Matter of Risk - There are no guarantees if you go to trial, which means you can miss out a fair pre-trial settlement. A 2008 article in The New York Times found that 61 percent of plaintiffs whose cases went to trial would have gotten a more favorable outcome had they settled their lawsuit out of court.
How Our Lawyers Can Help You
Deciding on whether or not you should go to trial can lead to conflicted decisions. By working with the team here at Chanfrau & Chanfrau, you can get straight answers about the risks and benefits of going to court. We can help you weigh your options and negotiate a better settlement in your personal injury case.
While we will advise many of our clients to settle out of court, we will urge certain clients to proceed to trial with their case. In such instances, we will fight diligently to help increase the likelihood of a favorable outcome and fair damages.
Contact the Attorneys of Chanfrau & Chanfrau
For more information about going to trial and what you should consider, be sure to contact our team of personal injury lawyers. You can reach the attorneys of Chanfrau & Chanfrau in Daytona Beach at (386) 258-7313 and in Palm Coast at (386) 439-7760.