Settlement offer

[mechanicx]

Well if your lawyer wants you to take a settlement and you don't want to you still have to pay him for his services at some point right? I don't think another lawyer likes to take a previous lawyers case. If a judge awards you a low verdict and lawyer did a poor job in court, appeals are very hard to win. I think it would be harder to get a lawyer to appeal working on contigency.

Insurance companies lowball and screw people over and lawyers want to take setlements because they know it's hard to win a good award with judges and juries especially nowadays.


Btw the accident I was talking about went to court and that was the outcome.

 

[mechanicx]

Btw the accident I was talking about went to court and that was the outcome. I was too young to remember but it as it has been explained it was dog and pony show, "the lawyer said the jury was balled out by another judge earlier out about giving excess verdicts", witnesses lied, the judge and jury weren't going to award anything much and less than $4,000 was the award. There was a damaged car, death and serious injuries.


My relatives probably lost all faith in the system and just wanted to have nothing more to do with it. I'm sure you'll come back and say if xyz everything would've been roses.

 

[morris]

above ALL, NEVER,NEVER,NEVER, use an honest lawyer. get the dirtiest, most low down cheat, for you side.

 

[Mixologist]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Well if your lawyer wants you to take a settlement and you don't want to you still have to pay him for his services at some point right?


Lawyers are limited by very specific rules and act as your advocate and when they don't they face very serious repercussions.

Earlier you said your case ended in a settlement, now you're saying it ended in court with a judgement. These are two completely different things that completely change this little discussion.

I would think the fact (as you stated) that you were so young and have no first hand (objective) knowledge of what happened in your case and are relying on second-hand info might give you some reason to question the 'facts' in your story. We all know how reliable second-hand info is. In short, it's possible you legitimately got screwed but unlikely and if they felt that way why didn't they appeal the decision with a different atty? Your parent's atty might have sucked but since you really don't know the facts as they were presented you can't really lay all the blame on the atty/judge/etc. Remember, when people recount stories to others they tend to put a pro-self/family spin on them.

 

[mechanicx]

Well whatever, I might have said settlement but I meant the award and it went to court. I got my version from my parents who were in the accident and at the trial. You go to court and you may get a ridiculously low judgement. If you appeal it and you'll likely get a denial. Then you might end up basically in the hole.

How the system should work in theory and how it works in reality can often be two different things. My whole points is you often can get ripped off in the process and there's not much if anything you can really do about it.

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: morris
above ALL, NEVER,NEVER,NEVER, use an honest lawyer. get the dirtiest, most low down cheat, for you side.


That's an easy find...

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Your lawyer wont like it, why? because he is working hours on the basis of if you get a settlement that he will get a big fraction. He doesnt want to put more time in for what could amount to not a ton more money (risk of outcomes). But you have everything to gain and nothing to loose.


Good point. He wants to get his cut and be done with it. Turning over a bunch of quick settlements provides good yields for minimal time invested.

Reminds me of Freakonomics somewhat. It's in a real estate agent's interest to turn over properties quickly, not to get the seller the best deal. A real estate agent would much rather sell your house right away for $20,000 less, for example, since they'd only get an extra $1000 of that and the agent gets to keep even less for himself. The big chunk of the commission is still there for him regardless. So he advises you to take quick, low offers but tends to keep his own properties on the market longer and get better money, because $20,000 really is a lot of money for most people and worth waiting a few more weeks.

 

[mechanicx]

Good point. It explains a lot why lawyers might not spend a lot of time and effort trying to get you a larger settlement that you deserve.