Three things to consider before accepting a settlement

The vast majority of personal injury lawsuits end up settling through negotiation rather than litigation. While the thought of avoiding court might lift a burden from your shoulders, you have to be careful as you navigate this process to ensure that you’re protecting your interests as fully as possible.

How do you analyze a settlement offer?

Before deciding to accept or reject a settlement offer, you need to thoroughly analyze it. Here are just some of the ways that you can do that:

• Assess your damages: One of the first things that you’ll want to do is calculate the damages. This includes incurred medical expenses, anticipated medical expenses and rehabilitation costs, lost wages, lost earnings capacity, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Once you know what your claim is worth, you can determine if a settlement offer is appropriate.
• Consider if you’re partially at fault: If you end up taking your case to trial and are found to be partially at fault for the incident that left you injured, your ultimate recovery is likely to be reduced. This is a risk that you’ll have to take into consideration as you analyze your settlement offer.
• Your need for financial relief: A lot of people take settlements because they need quick access to cash. If you’re in that situation, a settlement may seem more appealing to you.

Thoroughly analyze what’s best for you

 These are just some of the considerations that you’ll want to take into account as you try to figure out if you should settle your case. If you’d like a more-thorough analysis, you might want to reach out to a law firm that has a track record of success with personal injury cases to discuss the matter further.