You’ve been in an accident and now you are trying to decide whether to file a lawsuit or not.  There is a part of you that says you want to hold the other person responsible for what happened, but there is another part of you that thinks people will think less of you if you do pursue the case, or maybe you feel there are too many lawsuits, or that it is not going to be worth your time to do it.  There may be a number of other reasons you may be thinking of as to why you don’t want to file a suit.  Those reasons can be politically based, religiously based, or based upon a belief that only money “grubbers” or ‘greedy” people file lawsuits.  What should you do? 

     Like many people, you probably talk about what to do with your spouse, friends, other family members or even co-workers.  What you are left with after those discussions is a  number of people telling to get a lawyer, and some others telling you some story about why you shouldn’t.  Some may say that we have a lawsuit “crisis” in this country, or that you shouldn’t contribute to the “runaway” jury awards that the media seems to talk about.  You are left feeling, possibly, no closer to an answer to your personal question than when you first started asking around about what other people think. 

     Whether you should or should not pursue a claim ultimately is an individual decision you will have to make.  Of course, the opinions of spouses and trusted family and friends may bear on that decision, but at the end of the day, it is truly your decision and your’s alone to make.  You think you  may want to do it, but are concerned about the perceptions of others that you may be greedy, or are contributing to the so called lawsuit “crisis” in this county.  Maybe some cold hard facts can help you decide.  These are facts that you can research on your own if you desire.  These are facts that UNDERMINE the statements of some about lawsuit “crisis”, “runaway juries,”, etc. 

     Let me be clear from the outset about one fact.  We DO NOT condone frivolous or nonsense lawsuits.  If I have a potential client that does not have a case, we tell them that and send them on their way.  In fact, I don’t know any lawyer representing victims of other peoples’ negligence that file frivolous lawsuits.  I would add that I would encourage anyone that hears someone talking about “frivolous” lawsuits to challenge that person to describe one single baseless lawsuit.  I wil admit that there are some crazy cases out there, but  many of those are brought by individuals representing themselves, not by lawyers.  But let me be a little more specific.  You often hear about the ‘medical malpractice crisis” in Illinois and other states.  Supposedly doctors are fleeing the state, etc.  Challenge the person making that statement to identify ONE doctor that left the state because of malpractice claims.  The other little known fact is that a  medical malpractice claim cannot be filed in Illinois UNLESS  a medical doctor, licensed to practice medicine in all its branches, has CERTIFIED UNDER OATH that the malpractice claiim has merit.  In other words, a lawyer cannot just run to the courthouse and file a medical malpractice claim.  The lawyer has to get all the persons medical records and have those records reviewed by a licensed doctor to determine whether there was malpractice or not.  The task of getting the records and getting them reviewed by a doctor will cost the lawyer anywhere from about $1,000 to often times easily over $5,000.  With that much money going out the door just to see if there is a case, how many people think lawyers are taking frivolous malpractice claims if it costs that much just to find out whether there is malpractice or not??  All lawyers that I know do a very effective job of screening out the potential malpractice claims that do not have merit.  Medical malpractice claims are very expensive to pursue, and no lawyer is just throwing money away on something that has no  chance of recovery.

     Let’s talk about another hot button topic of certain politicians–the lawsuit “crisis” in this country.  Did you ever notice that when politicians talk about lawsuit crisis, they always seem to men tion people suing for personal injuries as the reason for the crisis.  Did you ever find it ironic that the people talking about the crisis are not the ones in the trenches on a  daily basis handling cases and actually seeing what is going on?  Did you ever notice that the shrill scream of CRISIS  seemingly is always coming from politicians running for office?  Have you ever heard of a group of federal or state judges, the same judges supposedly in the very middle of the crisis, talking about a crisis?  Isn’t it funny that the people actually working in the legal system don’t seem to be talking about any crisis?  Yet, every election year, certain politicians scream about the “crisis” with runaway jury verdicts for supposedly non-deserving injured people and their families.  You hear about the need for CAPS on damages, designed solely to punish the injured person or their family from recovering fair compensation, yet protecting the at fault person or company from paying what’s fair.  What is fair about that?  In any event, would you find it interesting to know that over about 80 % of all civil lawsuits filed are one company suing some other company for some reason?  If the bulk of ALL civil lawsuits filed are one company suing some other company for whatever reason, like breach of contract, trademark infringement, or whatever, than if there is a crisis, who caused it?  Was the “explosion” of lawsuits because of injured people suing for those injuries, or was the “explosion” caused by corporations suing corporations??  So the next time you hear about a lawsuit crisis from someone, ask them about these facts.  Also, the next time you hear some politician crying about all the lawsuits, ask them who is filing them.  All of the above facts are documented from the American Association of Justice as well as statistics pulled from the courthouses.  Theese are not just some facts I made up.   Do your research.

     Other reasons you may hear about why you sh ouldn’t file a lawsuit are just utterly frivolous under biopsy.  Is it only ‘greedy’ people that file claims?  Does a young woman whose husband was killed when a truck crossed the certerline, leaving her to take care of herself and their kids fit the profile of a “greedy” person?  Do you think for a minute that if the truck company was at fault, that they would immediately call the grieving widow, and offer to pay funeral and burial costs, as well as provide a stream of income to replace what was lost?  People hurt in accidents seeking fair compensation are NOT GREEDY!  How does the person or company that was at fault, and caused the accident, escape namecalling, yet you, the injured person, going to the doctor, having surgery, going to physical therapy, can’t spend quality time with your spouse or kids, how is that you are greedy by seeking fair compensation for what happened?  Why are you called names if you file a claim, yet the person or company that caused the accident escapes without  being held responsible, yet alone called bad names?  It is no more “greedy” to seek fair compensation for your injuries, then it is “greedy” to expect to be paid a fair wage for whatever work you do.  What we have see over the years is that people that talk about “greedy” claimants are usually those that either had their own claim, or someone close to them that didn’t get any money, and they are still  mad about it.

     Let’s fiinish by talking about “runaway” jurv verdicts.  You see this in the paper with some regularity and constantly hear certain politicians talking aobut it.  Juries are supposedly out of control and blindly awarding millions of dollars for small injuries.   There are supposedly judicial “hell-holes” where if a company gets sued in a certain locale, that the juries are just out of control awarding money against them.   The cases where lots of money is awarded often make headlines, without question.  But what is  really at work when the newspaper or politician tries to take a single jury verdict and use it as some part of their personal agenda to get elected or whatever.  Let’s talk about the civl jury for a minute

     The United States is the ONLY country that truly alows jury trials in civil cases.  A civil case is one that is not criminal–no body is going to jail.  Civil trial are about personal injury, breach of contract, etc.  The only thing at stake in civil trials is usually money or enforce certain types of contracts, or to bar a company from infringing on some other company’s rights, etc.  Who sits on these civil juries?  Is it some supposed “lunatics” of society?   No, it is people like me and you.  Civil juries are people from the community.  They are your neighbors, your co-workers.  The are the people you see in your church, at your schools.  They are your kids teachers, your carpenter, the plumber, the doctor that lives down the street.  They work at the post office, in office buildings, they drive delivery trucks and fix your car when it’s broken.   The cook fantastic food in restaurants and deliver it to your table.  Jurors are as diverse and as varied as the community in which you live.    Very few people can escape from jury duty, and if you are called, you should not try and avoid it either.  Why?  Because serving on a jury is a FANTASTIC experience.  Yes, it may pull you from your job, or interrupt your schedule for awhile, and you may hate having to drive “down-town” to get to the courthouse.  But, almost universally,  people interviewed after jury duty say that it was a great experience, that they enjoyed learing about a process foreign to them, etc.  I have digressed here a little to remind us of our civic duty to serve when called.  But it makes a point.  The reality is that all those runaway juries out there were citizens of the community, called by the clerks office to try and serve.  They were interviewd by the Judge and the lawyers before they were chosen.  They sat through the whole trial.  They heard the evidence.  They saw the witnesses and were able to observe their demeanor.  They heard the arguments of both lawyers, they heard the law from the judge, and they swore to follow the law that the judge gave them.  Do they sound like a group that woudl just “runaway” with the process and award obscene sums?

     In other words, the newsbites and snippets from politicians about certain jury awards don’t even scratch the surface of what went on in the trial.  The pundit uses the result of the trial as supposed evidence of a broken system.  Yet, who can second guess the actions of a group of citizens, that had to reach a unanimous result?  Can we really believe the 2 minutes sound bite?   In a trial that may have lasted days, weeks or months, do we really think the jury at the end just threw up their hands and gave away the bank?   In other words, do you ever hear about when the injured person loses???   Recall the stunning first verdict in Texas against Merck for the problems with Vioxx??  It was all over the TV news and newspapers.  Now, how many have head about all the cases that Merck has won?  Would it shock you to know that Merck, before the recent settlement, won far more Vioxx cases then it lost?  In other words, the lawyers trying the cases, both for the injured person and for the person or company sued, have FAITH in the jury trial system.  Every defense lawyer worth their salt will tell you that cases are won or lost, based upon the facts, not runaway juries. 

     I’m sure if you read this far, you are probably thinking about the McDonald’s hot coffee verdict as a classic example of a runaway verdict and that your friends will think of you in that way if you file a lawsuit.  I will  discuss the infamous McDonald’s case in a later post.   You will probably be surprised by what you will hear.  But, to the point, SHOULD YOU FILE A LAWSUIT?   Would you have any  hesitation to talk to a lawyer if you thought your  neighbor damaged your property, if you were fired from your job unfairly or because of your gender, age, race or creed? If the company working on your neighbors property damaged yours in the process, would you have any hesitation holding them responsible?   Is it any different to hold responsible the person or company that killed your spouse, child, or put you in the hospital?   Be fair to yourself.   Good luck.