This is a question that we generally get asked under three different circumstances. First, when we meet a prospective client, who was recently injured in an accident– they are asking for obvious reasons. Second, on the eve of trial or a prospective settlement, our client wants to know what we think the case is worth –also for obvious reasons. Third, we get many calls from clients of other lawyers, who were just told that their case is worth much less than they expected. So –again for obvious reasons –they are seeking another opinion.
My advice to you is to be wary of any lawyer who tells you what your case is worth under scenarios one and three above. Be equally wary of a lawyer who won’t offer an opinion as to your case’s value under the second illustration above.
At the outset of a case, it is frequently impossible to give an accurate opinion of its value for many reasons. First, it may be too soon after the injury to know what the degree of permanency will be, how the injury will affect your life, what you will/will not be able to do or what you will/will not be able to do as well as you did prior to the accident. In addition, prior to extensive investigation, it is often difficult to know who is responsible for the accident, whether a party is 100% responsible, what the offending party will claim as defenses, as well as many other factors that often are not known until all discovery is completed.
So –be wary if someone “knows” how much your case is worth at the outset.
Under the last scenario (calling another lawyer because you were surprised at what your lawyer has now told you about case value), we are hard pressed to give a definitive opinion. Some of the reasons are as follows: clients don’t always accurately “translate” what their lawyer has told them, so the information being given to us may lack coherence or be incomplete; clients’ understanding of their medical condition can be different than what their physicians have put in their medical reports; the “warts” of their case are discounted by the client because they are not objective; and, without looking at the whole legal file, much of the information we would base our opinion upon(what was said at depositions by all parties, what the investigation/police reports reflect, what was said in medical reports, what opinions physicians have offered as to permanency, degree of loss and cause and effect) would be missing from our analysis.
So –steer clear of a lawyer who gives you an “off the cuff” opinion without having all of the information. A building is only as sound as its foundation. Don’t build on quicksand!
The second scenario is the one where we can reasonably offer an educated opinion as to value. At this point— time for settlement or trial –we have all of the information we need. We have done our investigation, have completed all discovery, have reviewed all of our client’s medical reports and have a basis to offer an opinion. Our opinion will be a range –no one ever knows what a jury will do. Based upon our experience trying and settling many other cases, we can offer an opinion as to a range that would be reasonable to value your case. The decision to settle or go to trial is yours. But the opinion we have offered is on sound footing.