Settling your case means that you have agreed to accept a certain amount of money from the wrongdoer in exchange for agreeing not to come after the defendant for any more money in regards to that incident.  In order for a case to have a settlement, that merely means that both parties make a mutual agreement with each other.  Relatively few cases ever actually go to trial, with almost 90% of cases settling either before trial or even before a lawsuit is ever filed. A settlement does not state who was right or wrong in the case, but it does resolve the issues quickly rather than spending a whole lot more time and money taking the case to trial.  In this regard, it can be said that both plaintiffs and defendants benefit from pre-trial settlements. 

Benefits of Settling a Case

• The amount of court fees is reduced.
• You save from the total trial cost and the time you would waste in the courts.
• You will steer clear of a conclusion that is unpredictable and be able to reach an agreement that all parties can live with.
• You will likely receive your money faster than you would by going through the court process.

How Does a Case End Up in a Settlement?

Regardless of the amount of money you would like to get out of a settlement, these back and forth offers require a lot of negotiation and so it is common for a firm to initially ask the defendant for a much larger sum than will eventually be agreed upon.  While this amount will be higher it will still be within reason.  This is because asking some exuberant settlement amount will tend to make the defendant not take your offer seriously but instead will ignore the offer having the case end up in trial.

Once an offer has been made, the defendant will either accept the offer, issue a counter offer, or flat out deny the offer because they are denying any type of wrongdoing.  Once this occurs, you have the option to either accept the counter offer, refuse it, or make a different offer.  This negotiation process will continue back and forth between the parties until an offer has been mutually agreed upon; and if there end up being no agreement, this is when the case will go to trial.  It is important to know that a settlement decision is a decision of the injured party alone, not their attorney’s decision.

Many people think that it is okay to try negotiate types of cases on their own. While it is possible, it is not something that anybody should take into their own hands.  At Rankin & Rankin, we know who to talk to and when. We know the right amount to ask for on your behalf. We can answer the difficult questions for you. For a free consultation with a Conway, South Carolina personal injury attorney ready to help you protect your interests, please contact Rankin & Rankin today at (843) 248-2405.