Why Don’t Companies Like Going To Trial?
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
One of the things that people will often hear when legal battles or courtroom stories unfold is that a case reached an out of court settlement. That’s pretty easy to understand, and the phrase itself explains exactly what happened. The two parties that were set to go head-to-head in a trial reached an agreement before a trial was necessary, and one party is paying a sum of money to the other.One of the instances when this happens most frequently is when it comes to private individuals contesting the activities of a company. In Florida back in February 2015, for example, three of the largest tobacco companies in the country reached an out of court settlement with a total of $100 million, to lay to rest 400 individual lawsuits filed just within this state.
While that’s a very large, public display of an out of court settlement, experienced personal injury lawyers encounter many negotiations for out of court settlements all the time, and it’s usually also with companies. In the case or personal injury situations, however, it’s usually insurance companies that are eager to avoid a case. Why is that?
The Problems Of A Trial
One of the biggest issues that insurance companies face when they look at the prospect of a lawsuit is that court activity runs against one of the basic tenets of business; time is money. Court cases take an enormous amount of time, and they drain a significant amount of financial resources from a company defending itself against a lawsuit. For a company that is trying to run a business, this is basically a hole that money is being thrown into for months or years at a time. At the end of that period, even if they win the trial, their “reward” is not having to pay even more money.
Conversely, for an individual that has been legitimately wronged by a company, there is very little to lose. If a personal injury lawyer takes up the case, any payments to that lawyer will come out of the amounts won in the lawsuit itself. So plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit aren’t giving up money. In many cases, they aren’t even giving up that much time, as it is the attorney that does most of the legwork in the “discovery” phase that leads up to a trial. Contacting medical or engineering experts to get more details or information about a case, dealing with accident reconstruction experts and eye-witnesses to build up evidence are all things that the actual client does not have to worry about.
The Jury Issue
Another big problem that companies face in a civil trial is the fact that, as with a criminal trial, this isn’t simply a matter of arguing the merits of a case to a judge. Trials mean that juries are selected based on their impartiality and unfamiliarity with the exact details of a case.
It is then up to the lawyers representing both parties to present the evidence that is required for a jury to make their decision, and then leave it up to that jury to come to a resolution. The issue with juries is that they are not computers or machines; juries will not react predictably every single time the way a mechanism would. Juries can be swayed by more than just the facts, and often when a company’s only defense is to attempt to belittle and dismiss a private individual, this can often turn a jury against a company.
Bad Press
But probably the worst consequence that comes from a company agreeing to go to trial is that this is now a matter of public and media record. The announcement of a trial means that the press and other media have full legal rights to cover the details of a trial and report that to the public. Regardless of the actual outcome of a trial, once certain details emerge of what a company is being accused of, this can often damage a company’s public reputation. The press from a trial can sometimes cost them potential profits in the future as people “punish” the company by taking away their business.
This is why, in many instances, companies will be reluctant to go to a trial in court for a personal injury lawsuit unless it is absolutely necessary. There are many more downsides for them, and even a victory is symbolic at best once the time and expenses are added up. However, for the victim of a personal injury, it is important to have a St Pete lawyer that is prepared to go to trial if need be. Announcing the intention to go to trial without genuinely being prepared to do so can be a very risky move with some lasting, negative ramifications. Make sure that if you want to seek justice, you and the lawyer at your side are fully prepared to go all the way.