Why Hiring a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer Increases the Value of Your Case

The insurance company's perspective on risk

Insurance companies want to avoid risk. When you decide to hire a board-certified civil trial lawyer, the insurance company will be more likely to offer higher awards more quickly – because they want to avoid the risk of a costly trial and high jury verdict. In fact, insurance companies will increase or decrease their settlement value based on who your attorney is. The insurance companies keep track in real-time of which lawyers are limited to sending demand letters versus those willing and able to stand before a jury to present a serious injury or wrongful death case.

The insurance companies know which attorneys are not afraid to go to trial – and have the skills to present an effective case. When you hire one of these trial lawyers, their representation increases the value of your case.

Although it may seem complicated, it's really dirt simple. If you remember one thing, remember this: insurance companies hate losing control of any claim. When you decide what lawyer will represent you and your family, you can take control of your claim rather than being exploited by the insurance industry. Getting a fast and fair settlement is much easier when hiring the right attorney. To understand why, here are the seven key factors insurance companies consider when making a settlement offer on every case.

The seven factors that influence settlement offers

Here are the seven factors that heavily influence the settlement that an insurer may offer.

1. The risk of trial: Will your lawyer take the case to trial?
2. How might a jury feel about your case? 
3. The severity of the injuries: More severe often means larger claims.
4. Is there clear evidence of negligence by the at-fault party?
5. The character and reputation of the victim: Is the victim sympathetic?
6. The character and reputation of the at-fault party: Are they likable?
7. Did the defendant engage in criminal or reckless conduct?

Below, we’ll dig into each of these in more depth.

Factor one: The risk of trial

You may be asking yourself, how do these seven factors relate to which lawyer represents me? The bottom line is this. If the lawyer you hire is a trial lawyer, they should be able to maximize these seven factors to increase the value of your settlement.

Alternatively, if your lawyer is not capable or not willing to go to trial, then the insurance company can reduce the settlement offer because they don't have much risk of losing control of your claim.

Think of it this way: what is the risk that the insurance company faces? If your lawyer will take your case all the way to trial, the insurance companies risk losing control. They hate to lose control. Losing control of your case could mean losing money. Insurance companies don't like to pay more than they have to settle any case. If somehow your case goes to trial and a jury gets to decide what is fair compensation and not them, they risk losing more of their money.

Insurance companies track lawyers

You might be wondering how an insurer would even know what your lawyer is willing to do. Here's how this works: Insurance companies hire a large number of people called actuaries. Their job is to measure and calculate risk. Insurance companies use actuaries to keep track of which lawyers go to trial and which lawyers don't. If the data shows your lawyer settles almost all of their cases without a fight, then the insurance company will use this information to lower the value of your settlement.

Ask yourself, why would an insurance company pay the fair value of your case if your lawyer won't fight? If your lawyer's track record shows that they rarely file a lawsuit and the law firm's data shows they hardly ever go to trial, then the insurance company feels safe offering less money.

Unfair insurance companies consistently make low settlement offers to attorneys because they know there's very little risk that a jury will see your case. In fact, the insurance industry knows the vast majority of personal injury lawyers will never go to trial. The insurance companies get the upper hand because they can pressure the non-trial lawyers by threatening to try the case.

If your attorney has not tried many cases, is nervous about how to try a case, or can't afford the costs and expenses of trial, they may feel that it’s a waste of time to fight back. They can settle more cases by staying in their office. When the insurance company believes this is your attorney’s approach, they don’t feel any pressure to make a fair offer to settle. This is how insurance companies save money every day.

Here's how insurance companies track lawyers’ performance. Every time an insurance company makes a settlement check, they track each lawyer by the lawyer's federal tax ID number. Some of the things they look for include:

• Which attorneys settle most of their cases without even filing a lawsuit
• Attorneys who file lawsuits and then settle their cases quickly before preparing for trial
• How often each lawyer goes to trial with cases like yours
• The negotiations made by each attorney (to learn whether the attorney is likely to back down if they squeeze them)
• How much money the insurance industry spends on defending claims brought by each attorney
• Which attorneys will settle the case at mediation, even when the insurance company is not offering full value for your claim
• Results and verdicts of each law firm and every attorney

The insurance industry also tracks which lawyers are board-certified by their State Bar Association and which are also nationally board-certified civil trial lawyers. They know which lawyers are specialists in civil jury trials and which attorneys teach other lawyers how to win their cases at trial.

Keep in mind that insurance companies always want to pay as little as possible and, at the same time, avoid risk. This means having a talented and board-certified civil trial lawyer on your side is an insurance company's worst nightmare because they know they have to pay fair value for your losses. Otherwise, they lose control of the case by having to face a jury.

How insurance companies use computer algorithms

Another factor that might surprise you is that it’s not even a person making decisions about your case. Most insurance companies today use computer databases that set the value of your claim.

This is because some insurance companies have as many as 30,000 new claims each day. Having humans set values is too difficult and costly.

So, to get the highest settlement from your insurance company for your case, you want to make sure it's easy for the insurance company computer to place the highest value possible on your claim. The key driver here is to hire a talented trial lawyer with a strong reputation for turning down low offers and taking cases to trial.

You want a trial lawyer who is rated as high as possible by the insurance companies.  One who wins trial after trial. A trial lawyer knows taking your case to trial means your neighbors and your community will be your jurors – and they will ultimately decide the value of your claim – not a computer.

You have a simple choice: take the low offer or reject the unfair offer and go to trial, where a jury decides the value of your damages. The insurance company loses control of your claim as soon as a jury trial starts.

Think about this. The insurance company has complete control over settling your case at any time they want. All they have to do is pay you enough to settle your claim. But at trial, a jury takes control away from the insurance company. No matter how powerful insurance companies' computers are, they can't affect what value a jury places on your case.

A talented, experienced trial lawyer knows how to communicate and show your damages to a jury. A trial lawyer knows each of the driving factors a jury uses to determine a fair value for your claim.

Factor two: How might a jury feel about your case?

The insurance company will estimate how a jury will evaluate your case. When you have the right lawyer on your side, one who's willing to try your case, the insurance company adds value to your claim.

Big corporations and insurance companies know that a trial lawyer will be able to show a jury just how dangerous the negligent corporation or person was and that they violated the public safety rules, resulting in serious damages. Your lawyer knows that juries also allow them to expose the wrongdoer so as to help prevent similar actions that could hurt people in the future.

A trial lawyer will let the jury know that they, the jury, are the only ones who have the power to deter this type of bad behavior from happening again. The insurance company will add value to your case when your lawyer knows how to communicate the importance of your case to a jury. A trial lawyer’s job is to empower the jury to make a decision that will affect the rest of the community in a good way.

Factor three: The severity of the injuries

The third key factor insurance companies use to set the value of any injury or wrongful death claim is the severity of the injuries and damages. A lawyer’s most important job for their client is to recover the full amount of damages. The damages are measured by the amount of money that is needed to fix what can be fixed, help what can be helped, and make up for what can't be fixed or helped.

It takes a special kind of attorney who can stand in front of a jury and show them the damages caused by the wrongful conduct. At the end of your trial, they will ask for the right amount of money. If your attorney has a strong trial record for effectively proving big damages to a jury, they will pay more to settle your case rather than face the wrath of angry jurors.

Factor four: Is there clear evidence of negligence by the at-fault party?

Now, moving on to the fourth factor that an insurance company uses to set the value of an injury or wrongful death claim: How much at fault their insured person or corporation was for the accident. Insurance companies know that an experienced trial lawyer will be able to use all of the available facts to prove the defendant was at fault for your injuries.

If possible, insurance companies will want to blame you or someone else for their negligence. However, they know that if your lawyer has the knowledge and resources to find out and collect the right evidence, they are less likely to get away with this tactic. An experienced trial lawyer will hire the right experts to examine the evidence appropriately and identify any and all parties that may be responsible for your damages. The defense may try to hide evidence and information from you, but they will know you have a lawyer who can protect you from their tricks.

Suppose the insured did something really bad, and it caused you serious injuries. They would rather settle with you early for a low amount before a trial attorney starts deposing witnesses and learns of the wrongful conduct.

They can hide evidence if you and your attorney don't aggressively go after it. This is very common in semi-truck crashes. Quite often, a trucking company has a terrible safety rating, and they don't want anyone to start poking around the company to expose them. So they try to settle cases quickly and quietly for a low amount. Only an experienced trial lawyer can expose what they are trying to hide. The insurance company does not want to face a jury that has heard all of their dirty laundry.

Factor five: The character and reputation of the victim

The fifth factor the insurance industry uses to set a value on a wrongful death or injury claim is: What will a jury think about the victim? That’s right. The insurance company will evaluate the injured or deceased person as well as their family.

This may have a powerful effect on the value they set on your claim. A good trial lawyer knows the best way to present you and your family in court. We can call before and after witnesses who are good people, who will communicate clearly about what kind of person the victim was before the wrongdoing and how the negligence changed a person's life or, in a wrongful death case, how the victim gave to their friends, family and community.

The attorney will show what a tragic loss happened because of the careless, negligent person or corporation. Again, concerns over how effectively your attorney will present you and your family can influence the insurance company’s evaluation of your claim.

Factor six: The character and reputation of the at-fault party

The sixth value driver of any wrongful death or catastrophic injury claim is the character, reputation and background of the at-fault wrongdoer. An insurance company will consider how bad the at-fault person is or was, what they did and how bad it will look in front of a jury.

If the insurer knows that the defendant won’t look good in front of a jury, they won’t want to take the case to trial. However, if they don’t believe your attorney will take the case to trial, they won’t worry about how bad their defendant’s behavior would look. Without the risk of having to present a bad witness, they can further reduce the settlement value of your case.

Factor seven: Did the defendant engage in criminal or reckless conduct?

The seventh important factor insurance companies use in setting the value of your case is whether the at-fault person acted criminally or in a reckless way. This will affect the value of your settlement because their conduct may allow you to collect punitive damages. However, the insurance company will only add value to a claim if they think your case might ever make it to a jury.

The wrongdoer’s bad acts will not add value to your claim unless the insurance company is afraid your lawyer might take your case all the way to trial. By hiring a trial lawyer, you increase the chances of your case settling for fair value and not going to trial.

The bottom line is this: there are many factors that are used to determine the value of every wrongful death and serious catastrophic injury case. Each one of these seven factors can make your case more valuable.

Hiring a trial lawyer is your best way to protect yourself

When you hire a trial lawyer, look at it this way. Setting a value for your claim is a business decision that is made by the insurance company. And because they use so many computers and have the data to fully evaluate attorneys, they factor in the added value your lawyer brings to your claim before they make any offer. By hiring an experienced board-certified civil trial lawyer, you give yourself and your family the best shot at getting a fair settlement. The insurance company has the money; you just need to convince them to use it.

They have control over your case unless it goes to trial. Their computers can't tell them what will happen when your case is placed into the hands of a jury.

Each day, when your attorney increases the value of your case through diligent, hard work, all aimed at winning your case to trial, the insurance company has to reevaluate and put more money into the settlement value. Having a dedicated trial attorney on your side means that you are able to negotiate with strength, power and courage and not out of fear.

To find the right attorney for you. Look for these two board certifications, one from the Florida Bar and the other from the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Ask the attorney this question: When was the last time you had a jury trial for a case that was like mine?

I hope this information has been helpful. If you have any questions, please call me, Matt Powell.  I am a double Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, Certified by the Florida Bar and the National Board of Trial Advocacy. I will be glad to speak to you about your case. And if I can accept your case, it will be on a contingency fee basis – you only pay me when we win your case.