Don't Think A Company "Will Want to Just Settle" Your Case

I will often have prospective clients call and suggest a case will be “easy,” because the other side won’t “want the publicity of a lawsuit” and that they “will want to just settle” if they are threatened with legal action. But will they?

In nearly twenty years of practice, I have handled thousands of cases. Over 95% of them have, at some point, settled. But, in disputes that were not auto accident cases, I have settled exactly two cases before any legal action was taken against a party. In both cases there was graphic evidence that was recorded, there was a personal threat of embarrassment to a single decision-making party that would risk that party’s reputation with the party’s own family if litigation were to proceed, and that person had enough money to pay a claim of the type and size the injured party was seeking. In one of those two cases, it happened that the attorney on the other side of the case was a person I had great familiarity with, who could communicate with the opposing party in a manner that told him the claim was serious and who could candidly discuss the case with his client and with myself. All of this is to say that settlement before a lawsuit is filed is very rare, and it requires some specific and particular circumstances.

So why is there a disparity between the idea that an opponent will just want to settle and reality? I believe this is due to a few things:

1. Our Idea of the Justice System

I decided to become a lawyer in fifth grade. L.A. Law or some similar lawyer show was regular viewing at the time. Since then, I consumed many other lawyer genre productions – The Practice, Franklin & Bash, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal – you know all of them. In fact, the pop culture landscape is filled with them. In every one, a case is presented to the viewer, and within the hour all the fights are had, the trial is conducted, and victory is had. In many cases, a party sees the writing on the wall, so to speak, and they pay big money to just avoid trial. 

This does not happen. Sure, some similar moments are had throughout the course of a lawsuit. But that lawsuit will take nearly a year, if it goes very fast. And in much of that time, the parties won’t agree that the evidence before them means the same thing. Each side will interpret it differently and each side will interpret risk differently. In reality, it is a slog to get from the start of a claim to the end of a claim. 

2. Claims Are Not Often Unique

Many times a client will believe the claim will give a company bad publicity that they can use to leverage a settlement, or that the opposition will face far greater harm to go forward with a case than just settle it. However, that’s just not likely. If a case involves an auto accident, for instance, the defending insurance company will view it as just another, run of the mill accident, knowing their damages are limited to the amount of their policy, which means you aren’t going to threaten their financial statues. If the case is an employment law case, or a contract dispute, it’s not at all likely that the local media, or any media, will cover it at all. If the company is very large, such as Amazon or Walmart, you’re not likely to get enough media to threaten their vast empire. Jeff Bezos and the Walton family might not even know about it at all.

3. Damages are Often Limited

Many state or federal statutes limit the damages you can even recover. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, for instance, a person working for a small business that is subject to harassment or discrimination, but has no lost wages, may be limited to damages of $50,000. These damages may be insured by an insurance policy the company owner bought. As such, there is no risk of great financial harm, and the company is comfortable defending it, knowing that even if you get all you can get, your costs to pursue it may reduce your recovery when you get paid.  

None of this is to say that you should not pursue your claims. However, you need the assistance of a lawyer to maximize your recovery and help explain why justice is slow, so that you don’t give up on your rights, as many often do when faced with this disadvantage. If you are in a dispute that you want to resolve and have questions. It costs nothing to talk to us. 

Call Hopson Legal today at (405) 673-7560 or (405) 633-0195.