“Money makes the world spin”. It’s a phrase that everyone knows very well. Credit cards, alimony, child-help, mortgages, student loans, enterprise loans,… with a current 19 Trillion debt, the United States and its citizens are buried in financial problems. However, there’s one thing that most of these aforementioned money owed have in common, they will usually be mitigated with “settlements” and/or negotiations. Nevertheless, in this article I will give attention to basic lawsuits and criminal cases.
Once we hear the word, “Settlement”, images of cash are immediately conjured into our minds. A lot of the settlements we hear about in the media are for large sums, wherever from $50K to millions of dollars, often involving celebrities or powerful enterprise moguls. Many people may ask, “If a party knows they’re harmless, then why would they comply with settle the case?”
Individuals settle cases for all kinds of reasons:
1. Save on lawyer bills
2. Keep away from public attention
3. Reduce stress/Time in court
4. Reduce risks of harsher sanctions from doubtlessly losing in a trial.
Defendants often settle criminal cases for “plea” bargains. (An admittance of guilt in change for a lighter punishment) for comparable reasons that defendants comply with settle in civil cases.
Nobody likes being in court! It’s expensive, time consuming, tense and will be somewhat intimidating. Whether you are being sued for a credit card debt or facing criminal costs, the potential of being garnished, put in jail, lacking time away from work and family, the presence of armed guards, black robed judges, etc… all the process can be a bit scary, especially for individuals who do not spend a lot time in the courts. (Which is usually most individuals unless you’re a authorized professional, police officer, or a recurring criminal.)
After we determine to settle a case, we have to weigh our options. Defendants and Plaintiffs settle for the same reasons believe it or not. If a defendant believes he has a weak protection or is solely fed up with the court process, he’s likely to settle, if a plaintiff believes he has a weak argument or he’s fed up with the court process, he’s more likely to settle. Time is money, and other people don’t prefer to have their’s wasted!
In essence, settlements happen when folks come to a conclusion after assessing in their minds a “cost-benefit-evaluation”. Let us check out the angle from a defendant and plaintiff’s standpoint in a hypothetical discrimination case.
John sues Company-Z for racial discrimination. John has a number of witnesses who’ve agreed to testify. Company-Z learns that these witnesses with be participating. Company-Z believes that John has a good probability at defeating them in court. Corp-Z presents John $10,000 to settle the case out of court. If John had been to win the case in court, he would probably sue for much more in damages, nonetheless, if John takes the provide, he can save himself lawyer charges and months (presumably years) going to court cases.
Though Corp-Z is in a disadvantageous place, they’re well-funded and might be able to drag the case on for a protracted time. John is an easy 9 to 5 worker with little or no resources. Nevertheless, John feels that he has strong evidence and is unwilling to accept $10,000, he refuses the offer and decides to see it by to the end. Corp-Z affords one other quantity for $15,000, John nonetheless refuses.
Corp-Z files several continuances to drag out the case. John is getting tired.
John later finds out that a number of of his key witnesses have decided not to testify. John is now getting worried. Corp-Z has not but discovered that the witnesses have backed out. The following court date is in 6 weeks. John must act fast! Due to these new circumstances, his possibilities to win the case have gotten much lower.
At this point, John has several options:
Contact the defendant and accept their $15,000 settlement offer.
Ship the defendant one last counter supply for a higher amount before agreeing to settle.
Rebuild his case, look for new evidence, take the case to trial and potentially win big or end up with nothing if he loses.
Option 1 is the safest- Defendants and Plaintiffs have the option to offer and/or withdraw settlement affords at ANY TIME. In this state of affairs, the defendant, Corp-Z is likely to accept to settle unless new evidence has been obtained.
Option 2 is a bit risky- In this scenario, John has realized that his witnesses are refusing to testify. Corp-Z has not yet discovered, however, if they do find out, they are very prone to withdraw any offers to settle, as they will be likely to defeat the suit. John can attempt to negotiate one final time to get a higher quantity from the defendant, but it’ll take some time to type out the particulars, and time is something John doesn’t have with a looming court date. The closer the trial date gets, the more possible the defendant is to search out out in regards to the witnesses backing out.
Option three is highly risky- If the case goes to a trial by jury and John has other proof besides witness testimony, the jury may nonetheless see it his way. If his witnesses are his key pieces of evidence, then he is at high risk for losing. This option would require very careful consideration. If John wins the case by means of jury, he will possible obtain a huge pay-out, if he loses the case, he could end up dropping everything and even find yourself being counter-sued by Corporation-Z.
Factors to consider:
Is John poor? How bad does he need cash? If he loses the case, will he still be financially sound? Is he in search of justice or a pay-out? What are his goals in this lawsuit? Is he mentally and emotionally prepared to remain in court for a number of more months? These are questions John has to ask himself before making a call on the right way to proceed.
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