Prelawsuit Settlements – Prelawsuit.com™

Prelawsuit Settlements Pay

All the evidence shows that prelawsuit settlements reached outside the courtroom are a good thing. In many cases they pay. Most of all, they make sense. In all areas of law, these prelawsuit settlements dominate the American legal landscape. They are favored by the courts, attorneys, and parties because they reduce legal costs and allow the two sides, whenever possible, to negotiate a prelawsuit settlement that eliminates the uncertainty about the outcome of a case. Ultimately prelawsuit settlements allow the parties, rather than a judge or jury, to create an outcome with which all sides can live.

Prelawsuit Settlements Are Ethical

Prelawsuit settlements promote morals as important values and they are ethical. Find a lawyer on Prelawsuit.com™ today.

First and foremost, prelawsuit settlements can hold all litigants accountable to the law. Prelawsuit settlements and written agreements with clearly defined terms and conditions may succeed when defendants have failed to fulfill obligations imposed upon them by the law. These provisions are widely used by a diverse array of parties. Although prelawsuit settlements can be negotiated between opposing sides in almost any area of law, the most common examples are often those cited between plaintiffs and defendants of nursing home complaints, before the filing of a formal lawsuit.

Second, prelawsuit settlements serve important democratic values by providing an avenue through which the injured party can haul almost any large establishment before the courts, when the accused defendant has acted in an unlawful manner. Providing such an avenue enhances fairness by allowing anyone who is hurt by a potential defendant’s decision, or failure to act, to bring a lawsuit seeking to hold the accused defendant accountable.

Prelawsuit Settlements Work

Some complaints involving negligence will often end in a prelawsuit settlement with an agreement being drawn up between the defendant and the plaintiff. In recent years, such prelawsuit settlements have been termed the “sue and settle” phenomenon which has generated substantial attention. This term “sue and settle” is inapt. Labeling it this way simply doesn’t fit, and here’s why.

Some type of settlement virtually always follows the filing of a case against guilty defendants. The vast majority of these kinds of cases in the American justice system settle—by some estimates, between eighty and ninety-two percent of the time. Moreover, this is widely viewed as a good thing. Prelawsuit settlements preserve judicial resources and allow the parties to reach an agreement, rather than have a resolution imposed upon them by a judge or jury. Given the frequency of such prelawsuit settlements, and the strong public policy favoring these resolutions, it should come as no great surprise to anyone that nursing homes and even very large hospitals, like almost any other party in civil pre-litigation, will sometimes reach a prelawsuit settlement with which they can both agree. This so-called “sue and settle” phenomenon, then, is simply the ordinary course of litigation in the American legal system. As a result, those who seek to curb these prelawsuit settlement opportunities in this single context should have to first demonstrate that these kinds of prelawsuit settlements involve decidedly different considerations than all other types of litigation. Such an argument today is not easily made.

Before I turn to the benefits that a prelawsuit settlement might secure, let me point out the kind of case that will often lead to a prelawsuit settlement. Unsurprisingly, most prelawsuit claims against nursing homes fall into a category of litigation that is particularly likely to settle. This category stems from circumstances where this kind of defendant has essentially no defense to liability. To be more specific, the circumstances to which I am now referring involve decubitis, which are more commonly known as bedsores or pressure sores and of course these injuries stir much controversy throughout our news coverage. Of all the different types of prelawsuit settlements that are known within this category, approximately 80 percent involve a combination of negligence and bedsores. The defendants in these kinds of incidents are understandably quick to make some very generous offers.

Simply put, the defendant in such a situation—where the facility has violated its duty to provide reasonable care—has no good defense to liability. If and when these kinds of cases don’t settle out of court, the accused will almost certainly lose. A judge will then be in the unique position to impose on the nursing home a strict timeline for the entity to meet its legal obligations. And because the entity lacks a substantially justified defense, it will often be obligated to pay the attorney fees of the party bringing the lawsuit.

I only provide this very brief overview and backdrop to this type of a prelawsuit settlement because it’s a typical one and it also highlights how ordinary these kinds of prelawsuit settlements truly are. It seems the most significant determinant of whether nursing home negligence will end in a prelawsuit settlement depends on the answer to one very simple question. It begs the following question, “Do the lawyers representing the nursing home truly believe that their organization can prevail?” In cases where those lawyers believe that a loss is virtually inevitable, the benefits of attempting to strike a deal and settle the case are more than obvious. In fact, for those defendants it becomes all too painfully clear.

Prelawsuit Settlements Offer Benefits

Proceeding without having to go before a jury can offer numerous advantages and the prelawsuit settlements offer numerous benefits. Now we shall take a quick look at some of those benefits.

First, prelawsuit settlements without going to trial will often enhance—rather than limit—the nursing home’s options as well as discretion. In the face of decubitis or the development of bedsores while under a nursing home’s care, the accused nursing home is almost certain to lose. In this type of a dilemma, the nursing home faces the following choice: Either the nursing home can convene with the opposing party to establish a mutually agreed upon timeline for completing all corrective actions or it can wait for judgment and have a judge impose such a deadline. The nursing home maintains more control over its personal agenda by entering into some type of prelawsuit settlement negotiations and bargaining, rather than allowing a judge to enter an injunction compelling the nursing home to act within a certain timeframe. This “rule”—that nursing homes increase their discretion by settling, rather than litigating—holds true in most cases where the defendant nursing home is likely to lose. Nursing homes simply have more control over the terms of a prelawsuit settlement agreement than over the terms of a judge’s order.

Second, prelawsuit settlements can save much of a nursing home’s resources when kept out of formal litigation. These resources will largely take the form of staff time during litigation. This savings will be particularly significant where a prelawsuit settlement can be reached early in the life of most legal matters. In appropriate circumstances, negotiations for a prelawsuit settlement can begin even before the filing of a lawsuit because the parties suing a nursing home, in many states, must first provide notice of their intent to file.

Third, prelawsuit settlements where there is a meeting of the minds can save money by reducing the amount of attorney fees the defendant nursing home has to pay. This savings occurs because a meeting of the minds reduces the amount of time required by the defendant’s attorneys, while it also reduces the amount of time required by the plaintiff’s attorneys. The fewer hours the plaintiff’s lawyers spend on any legal matter, the lower the amount of attorney fees they can demand.

Fourth, prelawsuit settlements conserve judicial resources by resolving cases and disputes, without a judge having to rule on liability and then having to craft a remedy. This frees many of the judges to spend their time elsewhere, for example on more controversial matters.

The ability of the public to hold companies and institutions accountable has in a great many instances served us well. Prelawsuit settlements encourage nursing homes and other organizations to become more diligent and less negligent. At the same time, it can offer monetary compensation as a viable option to hold those who would harm us with their malicious intent accountable.

Suffice it to say that in a good many of these cases, a prelawsuit settlement would often provide a much better option than formal litigation. Therefore, in those cases where a prelawsuit settlement between opposing parties is not only appropriate but more desirable, let us say that it pays to take a closer look at all your options before filing. Find a lawyer on Prelawsuit.com™ and remember that most of the time prelawsuit settlements truly make sense because oftentimes they pay.