What’s This Talk About a Jury Trial? March 2, 2009
Posted by Attorney Jonathan Groth in FAQ Personal Injury, Personal Injury Law, Wisconsin Auto Accidents.Tags: injury settlement, jury trial, Personal Injury Lawsuit, wisconsin personal injury
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I think I need to write about a few things that I commonly hear from clients and a few things that I commonly say to clients.
First, about something I say. Whenever someone asks about the value of a claim or what we will “go after” for compensation I always say something like “the law allows us” or a “jury would be allowed to consider” or “we could ask a jury.”
I don’t use these phrases to scare clients and make them think we are going all the way to a trial. In fact, the vast majority of my clients never see a courtroom. I say these things because ultimately, the only way to force an insurance company to compensate an injured victim is by taking the case to a jury. Once the jury decides and decides on a verdict that is what the insurance company has to pay. (Obviously there is always the possibility of appeals but that is a post for another day…if jury trials are rare I’m sure you can imagine how rare appeals are).
Settlements made presuit or after a suit is filed are all based on guessing what a jury would award. That is why you really hire a lawyer. You hire a lawyer to give you an educated guess as to what a jury would award considering the law, facts and all the miscellaneous things out there.
No one knows what a jury would award. But, who better to give you advice on the value of a personal injury matter than an attorney who has dedicated his career to knowing what amount of money a jury would use to compensate an injured person and his/her family.
Next time I’m going to write about:
Thanks, I’m glad I hired you to handle my “lawsuit.”
Jon Groth is a Wisconsin Personal Injury Attorney handling cases throughout Wisconsin and most recently in Cascade, Lomira, Janesville and Wauwatosa.
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