In Missouri, settling a car accident claim early and going to trial each have particular benefits and drawbacks. If you settle, you can avoid the stress and uncertainty of a trial — and you can also receive your funds more quickly.
Going to trial may lead to greater compensation if you win your case. However, going to trial is stressful, and it can delay any potential compensation by months or years. Perhaps most importantly, if you go to trial and lose, you may walk away with nothing at all.
You don’t have to decide to settle or go to trial on your own — our experienced Missouri auto accident attorneys can assess your case and recommend the best course of action. However, it may still be helpful to understand some of the main pros and cons of settling a car accident claim vs. going to trial.
Pros and Cons of Settling Your Car Accident Claim
The vast majority of car accident lawsuits settle out of court. This is largely due to the fact that settling has three major advantages:
- It’s much faster
- There’s a certain outcome
- It’s less stressful and contentious
The Benefits of Settling
When you settle your case, you and your attorney also have far more control over the process. You have the power to accept or reject any settlement the insurance company sends your way.
Insurers also want to avoid going to trial, so they have an incentive to settle. When you have an attorney with strong negotiation skills, you’re more likely to recover fair compensation without ever setting foot in a courtroom.
Settling a case does also give you some control over the process, but when you negotiate with an insurance company, the insurer is generally the one setting the terms of the settlement. Your lawyer may attempt to negotiate more favorable terms, but in most instances, insurers are only willing to negotiate so much.
Many people choose to settle cases because settling allows them to access compensation sooner. That’s generally good, but in some instances, giving up the right to continue investigating and potentially seek more compensation can be risky.
Settling your case has plenty of advantages. However, before making the decision to settle, you should also carefully weigh the potential downsides:
- With all else being equal, settlements are almost always lower than trial verdicts
- You have less control over the terms of your compensation
- When you settle, you give up the right to seek further compensation
Cons of Settling
There’s no way to say exactly when your case will settle. Questions of liability, available evidence, and many other factors can influence the settlement timeline. However, on average, accident cases that settle out of court do so in three to six months. Those that go to court can easily take a year or longer to resolve.
You also shouldn’t underestimate the importance of having a certain outcome. Facing a major injury introduces considerable uncertainty to your life, and when your case goes to trial, you have to deal with even more uncertainty in the chance that you may be awarded less than the initial settlement offer (or even be awarded nothing at all).
If you’re dealing with financial stress as a result of an accident, seeing that you may be able to recover more compensation at trial may make you hesitate to settle. However, keep in mind that going to trial is a high-risk, high-reward proposition. If you win, you’re likely to receive more, but if you lose, you’ll get no compensation at all.
Example of Settling vs Going to Trial
Here’s an example. Imagine you suffer several broken bones in a car accident and must undergo emergency surgery. Your medical bills and lost wages totaled $35,000, and the insurer offers you a $40,000 settlement. This seems like a fair settlement, so you accept — and you receive your compensation a few months after the accident.
However, shortly after you receive your funds, your doctor finds that one of your fractures is still not healing properly, so you need another surgery. The surgery is successful, but you suffer a major infection and need additional treatment.
The ordeal leaves you with an additional $20,000 in medical bills. Because you have already settled your case, you may not pursue the at-fault driver or their insurance company for the additional medical bills.
Pros and Cons of Going to Trial
Going to trial after a car accident injury is less common than settling, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth considering. These are some of the main advantages of going to trial:
- Your case will be decided by an unbiased third party
- If the court rules in your favor, you may recover substantially more compensation
- You’ll have a chance to publicly hold the at-fault driver accountable
Pros of Going to Trial
Going back and forth with an insurance company during negotiations can be exhausting and frustrating. You’re dealing with an entity whose main goal is prioritizing its own profits — not awarding you the compensation you deserve.
When you go to court, you can present your case and allow a judge and jury to decide. When the court makes a ruling, it’s using the law to guide its decisions.
For many people trying to decide whether to settle or go to court, the allure of a high verdict is strong. They may have seen multimillion-dollar verdicts in the news, or they may just be hoping to receive full, fair compensation.
If your case is very strong, you have a reasonable likelihood of winning. If you do, you could receive significantly more compensation than you could if you had settled.
Getting a chance to tell your side of the story in court might not seem like much of an advantage. However, suffering an injury can leave you feeling powerless, and testifying in court can help you reclaim some of your power.
Even though you’re in civil court and not criminal court, it can give you a sense of justice to describe what happened and (hopefully) be awarded some compensation for what you’ve been through.
However, despite the many potential benefits of going to trial, having your case decided in court can come with major downsides. You should carefully consider these potential drawbacks before making your decision:
- There’s no way to reliably predict an outcome
- The process is extremely time-consuming
- It can be highly stressful
- Trials can be expensive
Potential Drawbacks to Going to Trial
The uncertainty that comes with going to trial is arguably this option’s greatest disadvantage. Even if your lawyer thinks there’s no way you can lose, you never know what’s going to happen in the courtroom. Although it’s unlikely you’ll lose the case when you have substantial evidence, there’s always a chance.
The time it takes to decide a case in court can also be a major disadvantage. In many cases, your lawyer will have already spent months investigating, filing an insurance claim, and trying to negotiate with the insurance company. If you go to trial, the trial can add months and potentially years to the process.
If you’re financially struggling after your accident, longer delays can significantly worsen the stress you’re already experiencing. Unfortunately, financial stress isn’t the only stress that can come with trial.
Appearing in court and testifying can be anxiety-producing, especially if you’ve been diagnosed with PTSD because of the accident. For many injured people, the stress of not knowing the outcome can be extreme.
Because you only pay your attorney if they win your case, you might not think the expense of a trial is a concern. However, because a law firm must hire expert witnesses, take time to prepare arguments, file motions, take depositions, interview witnesses, and otherwise prepare for trial, you may owe a slightly higher percentage of your compensation if you win.
Choosing the Best Option
When it comes to settling a car accident claim vs. going to trial, there’s no option that’s best for everyone. Every car accident case is unique, and which option is the right one for you depends on your individual circumstances. These factors are particularly important:
The Strength of Your Case
Some car accident cases are stronger than others. If the evidence you have leaves something to be desired, settling is often the best choice. There’s always uncertainty at trial, and that uncertainty is only amplified when your case isn’t as strong as it could be.
On the other hand, if the available evidence is overwhelmingly in your favor, going to trial could be worthwhile. Trial verdicts are generally higher than settlements, and when your evidence is especially strong, the court may be more inclined to award you substantial damages.
Your Financial Situation
In a perfect world, your financial situation would have no bearing on your legal strategy. Unfortunately, for many injured people, financial uncertainty and insecurity have become a painful daily reality.
If you are unable to work and struggling to pay your medical bills, choosing the option that’s most likely to result in prompt compensation is often the most logical. Cases that go to trial can sometimes take years to resolve, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll receive compensation in the end.
Any Settlement Offers You’ve Received
Occasionally, the insurance company may be so confident that it will prevail in the courtroom that it refuses to offer you any settlement at all. However, in the vast majority of cases, you’ll be offered a settlement of some kind.
If you’ve been offered a fair settlement, it may be better to accept it than to go to court. On the other hand, if the insurance company’s offer does not cover all of your losses (or if your attorney believes you’ll likely recover substantially more in court), taking the case to trial might be the best option.
Whether You’re Willing to Endure Litigation
Litigation can be challenging even under the best of circumstances. However, when you’re in pain and grappling with the stress of a life-altering injury, it can be even more stressful.
If you’ve never been a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit before, it can be difficult to understand how well you may handle the process. Your attorney can be very helpful when it comes to making this decision.
Having an honest conversation about the reality of the courtroom can help you decide whether you would be comfortable taking the case to trial or if you’d rather settle.
Serving Victims of Auto Accident Injuries Since 1990
Recovering compensation after a car accident isn’t as simple as it seems from the outside. Behind every success story, there’s a history of strategic choices, and deciding on settling a car accident claim vs. going to trial is one of the most critical of all.
When you work with an experienced car accident attorney, you gain a knowledgeable advocate who can look closely at your case and help you devise a winning strategy. Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers is the only Missouri law firm dedicated exclusively to car accident cases, and this focus enables us to give you the representation you deserve.
If you were injured in a car accident that wasn’t your fault, we want to hear from you. Give us a call or contact us online to schedule your free consultation today.
Our legal team has been assisting victims of auto accident injuries for 35+ years. We’ve helped clients in cities including Independence, St. Louis, O’Fallon, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Doniphan, Springfield, Joplin, and more.
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