Your personal injury attorney first tries to settle your case with the relevant insurance company. Usually, claims are settled without the need to file a lawsuit. But, with insurance companies becoming more and more tight with personal injury settlement offers, it sometimes becomes necessary to litigate the claim.
There are respective advantages and disadvantages of opting for arbitration or a jury trial. The following excerpt was provided courtesy of www.uspersonalinjurylaw.com and it provides a good description of the pros and cons of arbitrations and jury trials:
- Generally, jury awards are higher than arbitration awards. Jurors tend to identify more with accident victims and be more emotional than arbiters who may have seen many similar cases. However, there is always a risk that a jury award can be disappointingly low. Other problems with jury trials is the length of time until a case is decided, the cost of trial preparation, and the inconsistency of jury awards. After a lawsuit is filed, it can be over a year until the trial takes place. Although an arbitration generally means lower injury awards, the awards are usually more consistent and quicker to obtain.
Your Massachusetts personal injury attorney should inform you about which avenue, arbitration or a jury trial, would best promote your interest in maximizing your ultimate recovery for your personal injury claim.