I wish I had a dollar for everyone injured in an accident, but who told me they weren’t sure they wanted to hire an attorney because “I’m not a litigious person; I don’t want to file a lawsuit.” It is a very rare person who comes into our office that actually wants to file a lawsuit. We usually don’t want to represent that person because they want revenge and we are not in business to help people exact revenge. Although there are attorneys who will take those cases, we will not.
We, the attorneys at UTVlaw, will do all we can to avoid filing a lawsuit. We do this by preparing every case as if it will end up not only in a lawsuit, but in front of a jury. By preparing for the worst, we obtain the best settlements for our clients.
From the moment we are hired to work on your case, we treat the claim as if it will go to trial. By doing so, we obtain all of the evidence and have it prepared in such a way that when we present the case to the insurance company for settlement, they know what will happen to them if they do not adequately compensate our clients.
Our firm believes the United States Constitution is an inspired document. The judicial system – though imperfect – is a very fair and just system. Therefore, if we prepare the case well and the other side prepared their case well, the matter will almost always settle prior to going to a jury. On the rare occasion that a case ends up not settling, our preparation pays off in front of the jury.
One reason people do not want to file a lawsuit is they do not want to sue for the assets of the at fault party. We completely understand this concern and expect that the recovery received will be from the liability and/or underinsured motorist insurance policies and not from the at fault driver’s personal assets.
Another reason people do not want to file a lawsuit is due to the social stigma of being seen as a “litigious” person. What most of the general public does not know (at least in a personal injury setting) is that lawsuits are not usually filed by litigious people, but by people who just want the insurance company to treat them fairly.
Insurance companies have incentive to pay as little as they can get away with. They know many people will not litigate their claims. Thus, they will often make very minimal offers knowing that a certain percentage of people will just accept the low offer and go away. It is a very smart business practice, but is not fair. By filing a lawsuit (when there is a very low offer), we put our clients on equal ground with the insurance company (which has seemingly unlimited resources).
A third reason people do not want to file a lawsuit is due to the amount of time it takes to litigate a claim. This is a very real concern. Once a lawsuit is filed, it will generally take a year or more to finalize the claim. Thus, some people will accept a lower amount of a settlement today, rather than spending another year to obtain a little more in their pocket. Our firm leaves that decision to our clients. If there is a low offer and our client wants to litigate, we will litigate; conversely, if our client wants to settle, we will settle.
At UTVlaw, we will always respect your wishes.
