If you hire an attorney to help you with a personal injury case, you can collect money if you win your case. You can also sometimes have the entity or person who harmed you settle out of court if you have a lot of evidence that they caused your injury or illness.
Assuming you win your case, you can expect specific things to happen. Maybe you’ve seen TV shows or movies where people have won personal injury cases and you think the next steps will be similar.
Certain things happen after you win your lawsuit and get a personal injury settlement, while others don’t. We will try to separate fantasy from reality.
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You become a millionaire
Say someone hurts you and you decide to file a lawsuit against them. Hiring a Personal Injury Law Firm in Gainesville can help you in this case. You go through the trial process and win. You may think that you are now walking away with millions of dollars.
That is often untrue. You can sometimes collect millions of dollars, but to get such a large settlement amount, you must suffer a catastrophic injury. Losing a limb can make you millions of dollars, but someone who causes you to sprain your ankle won’t get you that much.
You can expect different amounts if you hurt yourself a lot or a little. In some cases, you can also get extra money for pain and suffering, but most of the time you won’t get life-changing money unless the accident or illness has caused lasting or permanent damage.
Winning a personal injury lawsuit is easy
You may think winning a personal injury lawsuit is a simple matter. You just hire a lawyer, tell them what happened, and then you sue the defendant who you believe caused your injury or illness. You explain to the jury what happened and you win your case.
Sometimes it’s that simple, but just because someone hurt you or made you sick doesn’t mean you’ll win your lawsuit. In some cases it is not so easy to get justice.
If you have a lot of evidence that proves someone has wronged you, such as photos, videos, affidavits, physical evidence, etc., you have a better chance. However, the opposing lawyer will try to get their client off the hook. They are just as eager to prevent you from getting any money as your lawyer wants to win for you.
Sometimes juries deny the justice you so desperately want. Just because you think you’re right doesn’t mean things will work out the way you want them to in a courtroom. If the defendant doesn’t get out of court, it’s for the jury to decide, and you may not have enough evidence to convince them.
You keep all the money from the lawsuit
If you win your lawsuit, you might also think that you get all the money that comes your way. However, you will never see it all.
You have to pay your lawyer if you win, and they often charge between 30 and 40%. You have to pay them on a contingency basis, which means you don’t pay anything unless they win the case for you. If they manage to pull that off, they expect a big chunk of your winnings.
You may think it’s unfair. You got hurt or got sick and your lawyer gets 30-40% if you win. However, without the help of the lawyer, you probably won’t be able to get a dime, even if you are sure that someone else has wronged you. You cannot argue your case in court if you are not a lawyer.
Technically, you can represent yourself if you choose that option, but you don’t know the law. You do not know the procedure to follow and you will probably lose, even if it is an open and closed case. You simply do not have the necessary experience.
If you hear the number you receive as a settlement, you will not get that full amount. You must deduct the lawyer’s fee.
The process will not take long
You might also think the process will take a day or two, and then you get your settlement money if you win. That sometimes happens, but rarely so quickly and neatly. Often the process drags on as you call witnesses, enter evidence, and the opposing attorney tries to break up your case.
You may eventually see some settlement money, but in the meantime, you essentially have to put your life on hold while the process takes place. You can’t work, and presumably your job won’t pay you while you’re in court. They may let you resume work when it’s over, but you won’t get any money in the meantime.
This sometimes puts pressure on your family situation. If you have a partner or spouse, they should pick up the slack. They can bring in money when you can’t, but you may also need extra support. They have to take care of the children, prepare meals, clean the house and so on.
Longer trials sometimes take weeks or months. They can last for years in rare cases. You need to know the tension that awaits you when you decide to pursue a personal injury settlement in court.
You can’t get money if you partially caused the injury
If you hurt yourself, you may have caused part of the injury, but someone else played a role as well. You might think you can’t sue them if that’s the case.
In most cases this is incorrect. It varies from state to state, but in most states you are allowed to sue someone if they caused an injury or illness to some degree, but you are also to blame. The jury, when reviewing the evidence, must decide whether to reward you with money or not.
If the jury finds that the other person or entity caused more than 50% of your injury or illness, you will likely see some money. You get more if the person caused your accident and the jury says they are 100% guilty.
Now you know some facts versus fiction regarding personal injury settlements.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.