Newport Beach Brain Injury Lawyers Discusses the Settlement Value of Mental Injury

Newport Beach brain injury lawyers often deal with determining the optimized settlement value of mental injury cases. Such cases can be settled without going to trial at all, which can save you the stress of going to court and delaying damage payments.

Avoiding Premature Settlement

It is essential to avoid premature settlement if you want to go the route of optimizing the settlement value of your case. However, you may still pursue an early settlement if the case involves severe abuse, and the person you are pursuing a claim against has the financial means to settle without insurance.

Confirm the Description

Your Newport Beach brain injury lawyers will need to confirm your description of the facts surrounding your case through thorough investigation. From witness interviews to evidence inspection and gathering additional evidence from the defendant, the confirmation process is essential to ensuring that you have a strong case to present.

Consider Mediation

The best time to submit your case to a formal mediation is after the defendant’s deposition has been taken. Your attorney may be able to convince the defense lawyer to submit the case to mediation, which is often a preferable option to trial for both parties.

Psychological Report

Before the mediation process begins, your attorney may seek out a written report from a psychological expert. This report may be used after the defense has agreed to use it only for the mediation process. In the event that you do not reach a settlement, it may not be used to counter your expert’s testimony in trial.

Mediation Briefing

Your attorney may write a mediation brief which outlines the facts and legal evidence supporting your case. This briefing may also provide analysis of anticipated arguments from the defense as well as counterarguments that can be made in response.

Report Delivery

Prior to the mediation, your attorney should deliver a copy of his or her mediation brief to the defendant’s attorney. This allows the defense to provide their committees and other relevant personnel with the information they need to evaluate the case prior to settlement.

Risk Analysis

An essential part of the pre-mediation process involves discussing the risks of the case with the defense. Your attorney should inform the defendant’s lawyers about why they will be unable to manage the financial risk if the case is pursued further. The goal of this interaction is to make it clear to the defense that a low estimate in your psychological injury settlement case poses more risk than it is worth. By offering you a low settlement, the defense runs the risk of going to trial, which may result in a much larger payment as well as punitive damages.

Description of Injury

The final and most important step of preparing for mediation is to ensure that the defense has a thorough, logical picture of the psychodynamic mechanism of your mental injury. This is more likely to lead to a reasonable settlement.

Contact Newport Beach Brain Injury Lawyers

Optimizing your mental injury settlement process may be easier with qualified legal representation. Contact the Newport Beach brain injury lawyers at Russell & Lazarus APC today at (949) 851-0222 for consultation on getting the most out of your psychological injury settlement.