Did you know that most personal injury claims actually end up never going to trial? It’s true! The vast majority of personal injury claims end up settling even before a lawsuit has been filed. You may be wondering, however, if your case will be the exception to this rule. Will your personal injury claim go to trial? Will talk more about this possibility here.
Will My Personal Injury Claim Go to Trial?
The somewhat unsatisfying answer to the question of whether your personal injury claim will go to trial is, it depends. Personal injury claims are incredibly fact-specific and the individual circumstances of a case and the parties involved will have the most significant impact on whether or not the claim will end up going to trial. There can be, however, certain circumstances of a case that may make it more likely for the claim to go to trial as a mutual settlement agreement may be less likely to be reachable.
There are certain aspects of a case where an insurance company is likely to exploit a potential loophole or weakness and use it to undermine the value of a case significantly or to deny the claim altogether. For instance, if the injured party, or plaintiff, has significant pre-existing medical conditions, particularly ones that have symptoms similar to the injuries claimed by the plaintiff, an insurance company is likely to try and assert that the plaintiff was not actually injured by the accident, but already had the medical issues and injuries claimed. This, of course, can be disproved by thorough medical documentation and expert testimony, but it can still be a complicating factor in the case.
If a claimant did not receive thorough, consistent medical treatment after an accident, an insurance company will also use this to try and undermine the value of the claim. To an insurance company, if you did not receive consistent medical treatment, you must not have been injured as you claim to have been. We all know, of course, that there are a million other reasons that would prevent an injured person from receiving medical care consistently. Making doctors’ appointments and trying to go on with your life in a somewhat normal manner can get in the way, among countless other issues
Low property cases are also often approached by insurance companies with significant trepidation. Despite expert testimony from doctors and specialists, insurance companies continue to claim that significant injuries cannot be the result of an accident that resulted in minimal property damage. Doctors, on the other hand, see firsthand that occupants of vehicles can sustain painful injuries despite the car sustaining low property damage. An insurance company may still use the low property damage to fight the claim.
There may also be some confusion as to who is at fault for the accident. Liability issues can quickly dissuade an insurance company from making reasonable attempts to settle a claim. It is just another reason for the insurance company to fight paying out what is owed.
New Jersey Personal Injury Attorney
At Levin & Malkin, we don’t let the big insurance companies get away with not paying out what is owed to injury victims. We are here to hold them accountable and fight for you. Contact us today.
Posted in: Personal Injury