South Florida Personal Injury Blog

According to Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys Andrew Alitowski and William Moore, the vast majority of civil lawsuits never make it to trial. Some estimates show only about two percent of the civil suits file result in a trial, a figure that is surprising to the general public, but reflects a trend injury lawyers have been tracking for years. Decades ago, it was more common to take cases to trial, but other options have surfaced more recently. These other options are often more attractive.

One extremely important option is settlement. Many cases settle for less than the amount the plaintiff originally sought in court documents. For instance, if Janet sues Michael for her car accident injuries in the amount of $100,000, Michael might not want to go to trial and risk incurring the verdict amount, as well as the expenditures associated with litigation. Therefore, he might offer Janet $60,000 to settle, and they could negotiate from that point, perhaps eventually arriving at $80,000. Janet benefits because she will not risk losing at trial.

Broward injury attorney Alitowski says that another important option is arbitration. Many companies, like credit cards and other financial businesses, now require customers to sign a contract agreeing to arbitration. Often, the agreement states that the arbitration ruling will be binding. In these cases, a “judge” or a panel hears both sides of the case in a setting fairly similar to a courtroom. At the end, the arbitrator or panel – often selected of a combination of experts selected by each side – renders a decision. Arbitration is frequently used for contract disputes.

Mediation is sometimes described as a guided settlement procedure. A mediator engages both parties to a lawsuit and helps them come to an agreement. This can be helpful when the parties’ relationship may be too contentious to negotiate a settlement without a third party.

Broward County injury lawyer Alitowski says that old-fashioned civil trials still happen, but less frequently. Large businesses often elect to settle claims rather than spend the time and resources going to trial. They are more likely to devote energy to that, though, if there is a need to show that the company did not engage in wrongdoing, especially if the company anticipates many more similarly situated potential plaintiffs. If one plaintiff wins, many more who suffered similar injuries are likely to file their own lawsuits.