NoNonsenseLaw.Com

Do I have a case? Maybe you have spoken to several lawyers, but none have been willing to take your case. Maybe you are just starting off, or want to know whether you should even bother. In determining whether you have a case, it is more art than science. In the beginning, a lawyer may feel confident about your case, but change his assessment over time. A number of factors are looked at to evaluate a case. Most of those are:

Liability: Whether anyone is legally liable to you for your claim is liability. The law requires that you prove elements of a case before anyone become liable to you. When determining if you have case, you would have to know the theory of liability. For example, Negligence (Click here) has five elements. If each element can be easily proven, then liability is strong. If one or more elements are week, then you have a tougher case. For example, in a car wreck case where one has been rear-ended, liability is usually strong. However, if there’s a dispute over who had a green light, liability may be week. Investigation and discovery on the case may make it strong once one talks to all the witnesses. If there are none, liability may be tough, or impossible.

Damages: what your total losses, both tangible, i.e., medical bills and lost wages, and intangible, i.e. pain and suffering and mental anguish, are your damages. Any attorney weighing whether to take your case will consider you potential damages. If your damages are very small, they might be reluctant to take it. The reason for that is because the lower the damages, the more likely that expenses on a case will exceed your recovery. If your damages are high, you may still have problems making a decent recovery based upon the other factors. If you have no damages, there is no case.

Credibility: both your credibility and the opposing sides will weigh sharply in determining a value of your case. If you get caught lying under oath, your value will greatly drop. If you lie under oath, you will certainly be caught, so don’t. If you think the other side is lying, talk to your lawyer about it. If you can prove the defendant is dishonest, it could improve the value of your case.

Provability: Some cases are more difficult to prove than others. Questions should be asked like “How strong is the evidence,” or “Howdifficult is something to prove?” In general, medical malpractice

cases can be hard and very expensive to prove. Thus, it tends that only the ones with the large amounts of damages are brought. Other times, its part of the damages that are hard to prove. You may have some medical condition that medical science has not defined, or doctors are in a disagreement about. This could mean that a substantial portion of your case can’t be proven. For example, in a mold case against an insurance company that had refused to pay for repair, the court agreed that they had a case for the costs of repairs, but the court disallowed health claims. The court ruled that the evidence in support of the health claims due to mold was not proven. Undeveloped scientific evidence makes for a hard case to prove. Likewise, sometimes witness can’t be found or won’t cooperate. If some part of your case becomes difficult to prove, it will hurt your case. It does not mean your wrong and the other side is right, it just means that part of your case just can’t be proven.

Probability of a Favorable Verdict: Unfortunately, some people are popular and some people are not. Some cases tend to take on the same hard to understand sense of appeal. This is not fair, but many lawyers will assess cases in part on how presentable a person is, but the truth is a jury will, too. Whenever you have to go to a deposition, mediation, or court, dress neatly and be well groomed. Do not wear excessive amounts of jewelry or offensive or revealing clothing. Be respectful and polite, and don’t get mad. Doing otherwise could decrease the value of your case.

Venue: Another factor is where your case would be tried, which is called venue. Although not fair, juries from county to county differ greatly. Consider a county which is made of mostly of blue collar workers versus a county where much of management lives. A case where an injured worker is seeking redress, might fair better with the blue collar workers. The rules determine where a case may be filed, but venue will determine the value of your case.

Possibility of Collection or payment: Finally, few cases are worth bringing if you will not recover in the end. If the other party does not have insurance that would pay a judgment against them, then it is likely you may not recover. If the defendant does have the ability to pay you, it still may be a more difficult case.

Weighing all theses factors, and maybe some more, attorney’s come up with a value on your case. Unfortunately, it’s more an art than a science. If you believe you might have a case, you can contact us at 1-800-238-1988 or by clicking here for a fee consultation.