If you are considering taking legal action because of a personal injury which you believe was caused by the negligent actions of others, you should be prepared to take the matter to court unless the case is so clear-cut that there is little option for the party at fault to do anything else but pay you what you think is reasonable compensation.
In some cases, the insurance company that is involved in any personal injury negotiations may play hardball and decide that it is worth defending their client in court rather than paying even a small amount out straight away in compensation.
How Confident are You of Handling a Court Appearance by Yourself?
If you find that you need to go to court, you must make sure that you have a good case to present and that you are confident that you can handle the hearing or trial by yourself. In most cases, if you find that an insurer chooses to defend their client in court, the best option is to use an experienced personal injury attorney to help you prepare your case thoroughly and represent you in court.
The attorney, if he or she has had considerable experience with personal injury cases of the type you are involved in, will know which insurers are most likely to go all the way to court rather than settle outside. The attorney is unlikely to take your case on unless he or she considers you have a good chance of winning it. This depends on the specific circumstances of the accident you were involved in, and the weight of evidence that is necessary to convince the judge that the defendant(s) you have named was negligent.
Who is the Defendant’s Insurer?
It is important to note that some insurers will take the view that spending more money defending even a small claim against their client than what it might cost to settle it in advance is worth it. The reason they do this is because they believe that it deters others from attempting to make a similar claim in the future. Also note that insurers will leave the defense to their attorney(s) and that it is not necessarily in their interest to settle quickly as they are probably billing the insurer by time. Again, this is something that a good personal injury attorney will know and take into account when deciding whether to proceed with a claim.
Making a Good Impression in Court
Making a good impression in court is important for two main reasons.
- You are more likely to convince the court that you have a good case.
- The defendant is more likely to settle an amount closer to what you are asking.
Note that you may have to attend a deposition before the actual court hearing if you have opted for a regular civil court to hear the case and not a small claims court. The impression you make at the deposition, especially to the defense attorney(s) who will be present is likely to be as important as it will be at the actual court hearing.
- Make sure you are available for the court hearing and don’t have to ask for a postponement at the last minute. This is unlikely to be granted except in an emergency.
- Make sure you give the court date and time to any witnesses who are going to be present at the hearing to give their testimony and remind them beforehand.
- Make sure that you have all written documentation with you at the hearing, especially medical records, witness statements and any other evidence that you are going to present. If you have oral statements by witnesses on audio or video, make sure at the court has the equipment for this to be used at the hearing.
- Rehearse with your attorney, if you have one, the likely procedure that will take place during the hearing. In particular, go through the likely defenses that the defendant(s) will probably come up with. The very fact that you have to take the case to court means that the defendant(s) or their insurer is not prepared to settle without a fight, so are most likely to come up with reasons to justify why they believe they were not responsible for your injuries.
The most common defense is that you should have known about the danger which caused your injuries or that you were at least partly or wholly to blame for the accident. You should be ready to be able to refute this sort of argument with evidence to back your side of the story up. Remember that the onus of proof in any personal injury case is on you, the plaintiff.
Another common defense is that your injuries were not caused by the accident, but happened beforehand. The defense attorney may ask you to show evidence that the injuries were not pre-existing, so you will make a good impression if you have medical records going back a few years to show that this idea is invalid.
- Dress formally as if you were going to a job. Avoid flashy looking jewelry and if you have tattoos, try and conceal them.
- Be polite and respectful throughout the court appearance, to the judge, defense attorney and any court personnel. Remember not to interrupt even if what a defense attorney or one of their witnesses is saying annoys you or doesn’t fit what you know of the facts.
- Concentrate on presenting well documented evidence of the costs of medical treatment and lost income that are hard for the defendant’s defense attorney to refute. You are much more likely to get a more favorable reception if you do this than asking for amounts for things like ‘pain and suffering’ and emotional or psychological harm, which are harder to quantify. This is not to say that they should not be included in a claim, but the evidence to back the claims up must be rock solid and well documented.
How an Experienced PI Attorney Can Help
It is likely that you will choose to get some help from a personal injury attorney before considering legal action and you may ask the attorney to represent you at the court appearance. Your attorney could make all the difference between ending up with having to bear the full costs of an injury by yourself and seeing justice done when a judge decides that you are entitled to the compensation which will help to get your life back on track again.
