Writer and humorist Ambrose Bierce (1842-c1914) once wrote of litigation: “[It is] a machine which you go into as a pig, and come out of as a sausage.” The sentiment still holds true today.
The New York Times reported on a recently released study of civil trials, which indicated that plaintiffs who settled their cases before trial ended up recovering more ($$$) than those plaintiffs who took the case through trial. In other words, proceeding to trial ended up being a mistake for the majority of plaintiffs surveyed. It was a mistake for only 24 percent of defendants. As reported,
In just 15 percent of cases, both sides were right to go to trial–meaning that the defendant paid less than the plaintiff had wanted but the plaintiff got more than the defendant had offered.
According to the study’s co-author, Robert Kisner, “the vast majority of cases do settle– from 80 [percent] to 92 percent by some estimates.” So, depending on which side of the fence you’re sitting, make sure you accurately assess your chances for success. After all, half a loaf is better than none.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Litigation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.2 Responses to “When In Doubt, Settle Your Lawsuit”
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August 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I am struggling to find the percentage of premises liability and vehicle accident injury cases that were settled rather than went to court in 2008. Does any specific statistic come to mind?
A general civil litigation source might be The New York Times, which apparently reported on a study of civil trials, which indicated that plaintiffs who settled their cases before trial ended up recovering more money than those plaintiffs who took the case through trial. Can you locate that article, mentioned in entrepreneur.com? The study was co-authored by Robert Kisner but I have no further information.
September 5th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Dear Julie:
I don’t have specific statistics for premises liability or car accident case settlements. You may be able to find that in a local law library or from a personal injury attorney (they may subscribe to journals that monitor these particular statistics). I appreciate your pointing out the (non-working) link to the Kisner study (which I’ll fix now) — here is the link to The New York Times’ article that was mentioned in the post: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/business/08law.html.
Thanks for reading!