The quick answer to this question that every single personal injury lawyer in Ontario is going to give you is always. Negotiations are far more lucrative than trials. Sure, you may be required to get a lower amount of money than your case is actually worth but the truth is that this is going to save you time, effort and most importantly – your piece of mind. Trials are long, especially in Ontario. In fact, the courts are so over flooded with work that if you file a motion for a hearing today, you are likely to get the actual hearing somewhere in 2018. That’s right, it’s not unheard of and in fact it’s becoming quite common for personal injury claims to take several years to get resolved through a trial procedure.
So, with this being said, settling the case through negotiations is far more lucrative for you and for the insurance company. Why is that, you may ask. Well, the more you postpone the case and the stronger your argument is, the more money the insurance company is going to have to pay you. This is due to the fact that there is an interest rate that accumulates from the moment your insurance was due to the moment it was actually paid off. In case of a trial, the majority of lawyers are going to advise you to claim this interest.
Looking at matters on your behalf, a quick settling of the case means that you get to move on with your life as quickly as it’s possible. The last thing you want after being involved in a traumatic injury and having undergone series of complicated medical and rehabilitative procedures is to get engaged in a year-long trial at the least, if not longer. Your priority should be to get your compensation as quickly as you can and get it over with sooner rather than later.
What is more, the quicker you get through the case, the easier it would be for you to get actual compensation. As this thing gets dragged through time, new information could come to light which might compromise the integrity of your claim. Insurance laws change quite often in Ontario and the last thing you want has to wait for a debate on whether the new laws are going to affect pending cases such as yours.
So, you should always try to get the case settled with negotiations. Though it is best that you hire an excellent lawyer to negotiate on your behalf, and deal with the insurance adjuster. This is because they are more knowledgeable about all aspects of the claim settlement. This is the quickest way for you to get it over with and it’s by far the overly preferred by the majority of claimants. It’s a fact that most of the personal injury claims never even get close to a court room and get settled way upfront through sound negotiations.
