What are the advantages of settling your case?
Well, it’s pretty straightforward: you get certainty. You know what the result is going to be. The stock market likes certainty, and so do people. The reason is because you can predict and move forward based on what you know, not what you don’t know. The biggest advantage is certainty.
There is also a savings. You might pay less than you would otherwise need to, and you’ll save on attorney’s fees. For every dollar you spend on mediation, you save $133 in legal fees. For plaintiffs who are receiving money, mediation is much faster. Going to trial takes probably two years right now in Florida from the time you file suit. And if there’s an appeal, you can add a year or two to that. So it might be three to four years from the time you file suit until you receive any money. And that’s if you win. So the certainty of settling comes back in.
Next, you can get things in a settlement that you will not be able to get in court. For instance, confidentiality. We’re not going to talk about this to anyone anymore. We’re not going to disparage either side, we’re both going to move forward. A jury can’t award that to you, but you can agree to it as a part of a settlement.
Finally, peace has a value. You can take this off your plate, move forward, and the emotional relief is tremendous. It simply allows you to move forward with your life, not letting this one case, or series of cases derail your life. You can focus on your personal life, you can focus on your business, because you’re not distracted either financially or emotionally with the case.
What are the disadvantages of settling?
You might do better at trial. Settlement is a compromise. You might do better, you might do worse. That’s where the certainty comes back in. But you might do better. Also, in mediation, you don’t get the sense of justice of having a jury hear the case. If you really want someone to hear it, if you really want that sense of justice, the only way to get that is at trial. As long as you are willing to take that risk.
If that’s what you want, then that’s what you should do, because you have every right to have that case heard.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions, reach out to us!