Will You have to File a Lawsuit for Your Personal Injury and Accident Case?
It all depends on the facts and circumstances of the case. We often talk about the process of proving and demonstrating liability, injuries and damages in an effort to add value your case and maximize recovery and address unsafe conditions. We use this process even if you do not have to go to court or file a lawsuit. I do not want to give the impression that a lawsuit is filed in every case or that there is a trial in every case. However, in order to maximize the recovery in certain cases, you must look at the case and be prepared to file a lawsuit and go through the litigation process and trial in. This is especially true in the cases where there are very serious injuries and damages, possibly death, and when there is potentially a lot of money at stake.
Often, a lawsuit is filed in the more serious cases immediately to invoke the discovery and subpoena power of the court and to retain the services of expert witnesses and get them in place and to conduct a thorough investigation and preserve and document evidence and witness testimony. In personal injury and accident cases, the insurance company or the company is just not going to write a check out of the goodness of their heart. Again, the liability, injuries and damages must be demonstrated and proven and any potential defenses overcome, in an effort to add value to your case and to maximize recovery and address unsafe conditions. In some cases, specifically in commercial automobile accidents, big truck wrecks, industrial or workplace accidents and injuries and product liability cases, it is usually going to be necessary to file a lawsuit immediately.
In the vast majority of cases, like most car wreck cases, it is not going to be necessary to file a lawsuit, in particular when the liability is clear and injuries or damages involved in the case are not severe. This should be addressed in the very first meeting with the right personal injury and accident law firm, because in many cases you are going to have a good idea as to what the potential defenses are, where liability stands, and potentially the injuries and damages and whether a lawsuit needs to be filed right away. It is something that needs to be addressed in a meeting with your personal injury and accident law firm.
For example, in a wrongful death case against one of the largest companies in their field in the nation, we met with the family of a deceased contractor and told them in the very first meeting that a lawsuit needed to be filed as soon as possible to invoke the subpoena and discovery power of the courts to preserve the evidence and to be able to get the experts involved in order to prove and demonstrate liability, injuries and damages, overcome defenses in an effort to add value to the case and maximize recovery and address unsafe work conditions. This case settled on confidential terms prior to trial at mediation.
In another case that illustrates this point, we represented a hard working young man that was injured in a very serious motorcycle wreck. We told the family, as well as our client out at the hospital, in the first meeting that, “We have a plan regarding how the case needs to be handled. We need to file a lawsuit immediately, so we can prove and demonstrate liability, injuries and damages and overcome any defenses that the insurance company for the other driver is going to mount and raise in the case. We have experts lined up and need to get them involved in the case now. We are doing this in an effort to add value to the case and maximize recovery and address unsafe conditions.” We implemented that plan. It started with the first step of filing a lawsuit immediately. The case also resulted in a confidential settlement prior to trial at mediation.
Most of the personal injury and accident cases that we have been fortunate to be a part of in our legal careers have been settled without filing a lawsuit; but in serious automobile wrecks and industrial workplace accidents and injuries, it is often necessary to file a lawsuit early in the case. The same is true in commercial vehicle accidents and big truck wreck and product liability cases. In these cases, we typically know that we are going to need to file a lawsuit in order to do a proper and thorough investigation in an effort to prove and demonstrate liability, injuries and damages and overcome defenses, while adding value to the case and maximizing recovery and addressing unsafe conditions. You need to communicate with your personal injury and accident lawyer and law firm about whether or not you need to file a lawsuit in your case and understand why the decision is being made.
Aaron Gartlan is a graduate of Troy University and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law who focuses his practice exclusively on representing those injured by the wrongdoing of others. He is member of the National Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In addition to his legal practice, Aaron teaches Business Law as an adjunct instructor at Troy University’s Sorrell College of Business and serves as a field artillery sergeant in the Alabama National Guard.
