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If you were involved in a truck accident in North Carolina, an experienced Raleigh truck accident attorney could help you decide the best course of action to seek compensation for your injuries, including whether to pursue your case to trial or negotiate a settlement with the trucking company.

There are pros and cons to both paths toward obtaining compensation after an accident, and the optimal choice may vary since every case is unique. However, most truck accident cases are settled out of court, usually due to the relative simplicity of this approach compared to taking a case to trial.

You could get advice and guidance for settling a truck accident case in Raleigh from a seasoned truck accident lawyer.

Settlement Versus Going to Trial

Trucking accidents happen all too frequently, and if every truck accident personal injury case went to trial, courts would be clogged and trucking companies might see their bottom line affected. In other words, truck companies often have a powerful incentive to settle cases out of court.

However, when a truck accident is catastrophic or fatal, victims may see a greater recovery of damages by pursuing their case to litigation. If a truck company engaged in especially egregious behavior that led to a serious accident, juries may be quite sympathetic to victims and their families.

This is one primary potential advantage of going to trial: the possibility of obtaining a much larger monetary award handed down by a jury than what may be agreed upon during a settlement.

Pros of Settling

Of course, there are also many pros to settling a truck accident case in Raleigh, especially for victims who suffered serious but not necessarily catastrophic injuries. Instead of spending time in protracted litigation arguing about the amount of damages the victim suffered, both sides may be able to come to an agreement out of court.

This in turn often allows the victim to obtain their compensation sooner than they would receive it following a jury trial.  Some court cases can be drawn out over the course of years, and for victims who need their compensation right away to pay medical bills and make up for lost wages and other damages, a quicker settlement could be more advantageous.

There are several different types of settlement negotiation, which are collectively called methods of alternative dispute resolution, or ADR. Some common types of ADR include arbitration, which is binding upon the parties; mediation, which can be binding or non-binding depending upon the agreement parties reach; and negotiation.

Preferences of Trucking Companies

Trucking companies usually prefer to settle a case out of court, since negotiation may not require the company to admit any fault in causing the accident or the victims’ injuries. In some cases, both parties can simply agree upon a negotiated settlement without having to hammer out exactly whose fault the accident was, and to what degree. Since determining fault in litigation takes up a considerable amount of time, arriving at a settlement is generally much more cost-efficient for both parties.

Another reason trucking companies prefer to pursue settlement negotiations is that they can require a victim to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Particularly in the case of severe accidents, a personal injury trial can be bad for public relations.

How a Raleigh Truck Accident Attorney Can Help

When it comes to settling a truck accident case in Raleigh, an experienced truck accident settlement lawyer could help you evaluate whether you have may have a valid claim, and how that claim may fare in negotiations or litigation. Consult a skilled attorney that could pursue a positive outcome for you.