You have significant injuries due to the negligence of another party. You know you deserve compensation for those losses. Now, you must determine your odds of winning a personal injury lawsuit. While each personal injury lawsuit looks a little different, working with a personal injury lawyer will provide more information about your specific claim and how to improve your odds of winning.
By the Numbers: Chances of Winning an Injury Claim
According to the US Department of Justice, only about 3 percent of injury claims settle through a trial verdict. The majority settle out of court before the trial date, with around 73 percent of claims reaching an agreed settlement before the trial. Some claims, like auto accident claims, generally settle more quickly and easily than others, which means an increased chance of winning the compensation you deserve.
Factors That Determine Your Odds of Winning an Injury Claim
Each injury claim looks slightly different due to the circumstances that led to the accident. Some factors can significantly increase the odds of winning your claim. A lawyer can help you gather and review the evidence and give you a better idea of your next steps, including how you can raise your odds of winning a fair settlement.
1. What Evidence Do You Have From the Accident?
Evidence is critical in any accident claim. Without adequate evidence, victims struggle to establish who caused the accident. Evidence helps establish the secondary factors that contributed to the incident and show how another party was liable for the damages you sustained.
A lawyer will review the relevant evidence and work to prepare a compelling claim that displays who likely bears liability for your injuries.
Your Testimony
As the injured party, your view of what led to the accident can be a vital part of your claim. By clearly laying out your testimony, including what you remember from the accident, you can help the insurance company or, if needed, the court see what led to your accident. A lawyer can work with you to create a clear, compelling statement about the events that led to the incident.
Witness Statements
Witness statements can serve as essential evidence in your injury claim. While some people question the overall reliability of witness memory, including how trauma may impact what witnesses remember of a specific case, witnesses remain a key part of many injury claims.
When a witness speaks out about your accident and how it occurred, that witness can provide vital insights into what likely contributed to your accident. For example, the witness to a car accident might have a better view of exactly what led to the accident than either driver.
A witness may also give insight into conflicting accounts of the accident, like when the lights changed. A witness who saw you slip and fall in a store can note the presence of dangerous wires across the floor or a spill that the store failed to clean up.
Gathering witness statements that support your claim creates a more compelling case.
Video Footage
If you have any video footage from your accident, it can serve as an essential element in putting your claim together. Video footage helps show exactly what led or contributed to your accident.
Suppose, for example, you suffer a slip and fall in a store due to a spill. Video footage may not only show you going about your business normally and failing to notice the spill ahead of time, but it may also show footage from earlier in the day, including store employees who noticed the spill and failed to post signs or clean it up promptly. That video footage can help you build your case. By working with a lawyer, you may find it much easier to access essential video footage from many types of accident claims.
Video footage can include:
- Indoor security camera footage
- Parking lot camera footage
- Traffic camera footage
- Footage from a dash cam or other personal recording device
Working with a lawyer as soon after the accident as possible can make it easier to get access to vital security camera footage. A lawyer can also help protect footage and ensure it does not get lost or deleted, which could interfere with your claim.
The Police Report
Many personal injury lawsuits involve a police report that documents the cause of the accident. For example, if you suffer injuries in a car accident, you must file a police report at the time of the incident. Likewise, if you suffer injuries in a serious accident involving multiple people, there will often be a police report from the incident.
Make sure you carefully review the police report from your accident to ensure it has accurate information about the date, time, and location of the accident. A lawyer can help you learn more about your options if the police report contains inaccurate information.
2. What Evidence Do You Have of Your Injuries?
To show that you suffered damages because of the accident, you must show evidence related to those damages.
Copies of Your Medical Bills
You may need to show copies of your medical bills as part of your injury claim. Those bills will lay out the direct financial costs you faced because of the accident.
You may have bills from:
- Ambulance transportation at the time of the accident
- Emergency room costs
- Hospitalization
- Surgeries and procedures
- Follow-up appointments with your care provider
- Durable medical equipment
- Physical therapy appointments
- Occupational therapy appointments
- Medications to help manage pain or symptoms caused by the accident
Your medical bills will often be an essential foundation for the other losses you sustained in the accident. Generally, if you suffered severe injuries, you will have high medical bills from the accident. On the other hand, if you suffered relatively minor injuries, you will usually have lower medical bills since you did not require the same level of treatment.
Your Medical Records
Your medical bills can show the cost of treatment for injuries you sustained in the accident. Your medical records, on the other hand, will show two key things: when your injuries occurred and what type of injuries you sustained.
These records include documentation of the treatments you needed and the course of care your provider recommended for you. In addition, you may use your medical records to show the progression of your recovery.
Statements From Care Providers
Sometimes, you may need a statement from your care provider to help make your injury case. A statement from your care provider lays out the damages you sustained because of the accident and your likely future prognosis.
Some people may have a very long road to recovery after the accident. Others may not make a full recovery from those injuries. Your care provider can provide information about how much you will likely recover immediately after your accident and in the future.
Your care provider can also issue statements that note how your injuries limit you and the challenges you face as a direct result of them: your inability to work, for example, or how you need assistance with basic self-care while you recover.
3. Do You Have Testimony From an Expert Witness That Corroborates the Information You Provided as Part of Your Claim?
Sometimes, you may need an expert in their field to come in and testify or issue a statement about your accident.
Expert witnesses can help in several ways.
- Experts can help recreate the likely cause of an accident. For example, an expert could recreate a car accident, giving you a better idea of what the liable driver did that caused the incident.
- Experts can testify about the extent of your injuries and how they impact you. You may, for example, work with a medical expert who establishes how your injuries prevent you from working or the pain they likely cause on a daily basis.
- An expert can give the court a better idea of how the liable party deviated from the required duty of care and caused your accident. Often, you will need an expert to speak about the specific law or policy violations that led to your accident and injuries.
Accessing an expert on your own can prove very difficult. On the other hand, many lawyers have a team of experts they can call to give testimony.
4. Does the Liable Party Have an Insurance Policy That Offers Coverage for the Accident?
Many private individuals do not have the funds to cover an injury claim. Even if you win the claim, you may discover that the liable party cannot compensate you for the damages you suffered.
On the other hand, an insurance policy provides substantial compensation in the event of an accident.
- Auto insurance policies offer compensation when you suffer injuries in a car accident. Keep in mind that around one in eight drivers does not carry auto insurance, and even more may only carry the minimum insurance. Hire a lawyer to review your coverage options and the compensation you can acquire.
- Property insurance provides protection when you suffer injuries on a property owned by someone else. Private property owners usually carry homeowners insurance, offering protection for the injuries you sustained.
- Business insurance policies generally provide coverage whenever the business commits an act of negligence that leads to injury for someone else, including producing potentially dangerous products that have not received adequate repairs.
If the liable party does not have insurance, you can still pursue coverage for the damages you suffered in the accident. However, it can prove much more difficult to actually collect on those damages, and having a lawyer on your side can help streamline the process.
5. Do You Have a Lawyer to Handle Your Claim?
If you want to win your personal injury claim and maximize the compensation you recover for the damages you sustained in an accident, make sure you have a personal injury lawyer on your side. A lawyer can offer a number of benefits to the claims process.
Collecting Evidence
A lawyer can help you collect the evidence you need to establish liability for your accident. Not only do lawyers know where to look for vital evidence, they may have an easier time accessing that evidence than you would on your own.
Establishing Damages
When you connect with a personal injury lawyer, the lawyer will work with you to lay out the damages you suffered from the accident and the compensation you can recover. Many people do not realize all the areas where they can pursue compensation after an accident, which means they may leave money on the table. A lawyer can ensure you know all the areas where you can pursue compensation.
Dealing With the Insurance Company
Insurance companies may not make the injury claim process as easy as you hope. Many insurance companies fight to reduce the compensation they pay out, particularly after devastating injuries that require significant compensation. A lawyer, on the other hand, can help fight on your behalf, increasing the odds that you will win your claim.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer
If you suffer injuries due to someone else’s negligence, do not try to handle your claim alone. Instead, contact a personal injury attorney in New York as soon after your accident as possible to learn more about your rights and begin the process of fighting for fair and just compensation.
Mr. Finkelstein is the Managing Partner of Finkelstein & Partners, LLP. He has become a noted consumer activist through his representation of injured individuals against corporate wrongdoers and irresponsible parties.
An accomplished litigator, Mr. Finkelstein has represented Plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases. He has successfully handled dozens of multi-million dollar cases.