New York City Personal Injury Lawyer - Joel J. Turney

Will my case go to trial?

Answer: Most cases settle before trial, and many cases settle before the lawsuit is even filed (particularly automobile related matters).

Automobile related matters have more of a tendency to settle prior to trial or even before the filing of the law suit due to three reasons:

1. The defendant's insurance company can be identified by the police report or plate number, and therefore it is not necessary to file suit to identify the carrier (on the other hand many cases, such as premises cases, require filing the lawsuit in order to determine the carrier responsible for coverage of the particular property);

2. There may be limited coverage, in which case the policy is tendered and the available assets maintained by the defendant do not provide a means of satisfying a judgement. Unfortunately, many automobile policies in New York are minimum policies i.e. $25,000.00 per individual/$50,000.00 per occurrence. For example auto cases involving a fracture with limited coverage and not enough assets tend to settle. Please see the section on Supplemental Coverage in the automobile section of this website for further discussion of coverage issues; and

3. On the other hand. there may be a significant question as to whether the injuries have pierced the serious injury requirements imposed by the No-Fault law (see automobile section of this site for a further discussion). The serious injury requirement only applies to actions arising from the use or operation of a motor vehicle. In cases where there is a significant question of a serious injury, many times the plaintiff is better served with a pre-suit settlement to the extent one is offered, rather than risk the potential of a dismissal by the court when the case is litigated.

Cases that do go to trial generally do so for two reasons, the first is a significant disagreement as to the potential value of the case (injury cases are very difficult to value) and significant disagreements as to the liability of the defendant.

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