Legal Answers
Brien Roche
Years ago it was fair to say that most tort claims were settled before trial. In large measure that has changed as of today. The insurers are emboldened by their successful advertising to convince the public of excessive jury verdicts. Insurers have their own attorneys that work for them in-house. They defend their claims. Therefore the insurers do not have to incur the legal fees of hiring outside counsel. As a result it is considerably more difficult today to settle claims than it was a few years ago. In addition, the insurers know that it is expensive for you to pursue a case to trial. You must retain expert witnesses, incur costs of depositions, etc.
In the case of Brownlee v. Schwartz the insurer refused to make any offers of settlement. Therefore we proceeded to trial and obtained a verdict of $1.85 million dollars. The expenses to take the Brownlee case to trial were a lot. That verdict was challenged by the Defendant on the grounds that the verdict exceeded the “cap” in Virginia as to medical malpractice claims. The verdict was upheld on appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court. (See Reported Cases). Since insurers frequently refuse to make any reasonable offers of settlement, they force the injured person to trial.
Legal answers provided by Brien Roche, a personal injury attorney with over 40 years of trial experience. Also contact us today to discuss your personal injury matter.
“I have been a client of Brien Roche for over 25 years and continue to receive exception service. Over the years he has represented in numerous situations including very large commercial transactions, business issues and others. His advice is invaluable as he listens well and is very measured in his responses. He will give you options and the pros and cons of each for you to decide what is your best course of action. I strongly encourage anyone to meet with Brien before they decide who to hire to represent them.” - Clifton Killmon
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