If U Are Suing someone And They Make an Offer B4 Court Trial,If I Decline Could I Lose In Court?

Question

Just Wondering If Anyone Can Shed Light On This?

Answer 1

This is true.
A trial is not a sure thing. You can still lose based on a bad jury verdict. I read about someone who turned down a pre-trial offer of $500,000 in a case where he was suing for $10,000,000. He was certain that he would win. Except that the jury sided with the defendant, and he wound up with nothing.
There are also some savvy juries that may rule against you just because you refused a reasonable compromise.

Answer 2

If you are being offered a decent settlement out of court, take it! If you decline the offer, this does not mean you will loose or win in court. This will depend on what you are suing for and what the judge thinks it is worth. You and your lawyer should be able to talk it over and decide if this is a good move or not. I was in a car accident once and I settled out of court and was glad I did. Sometimes you can end up with alot less than the offer or you could end up with alot more or it might be the same amount, or worse, nothing at all!

Answer 3

First of all, an offer in compromise has not evidentiary weight on the eventual outcome of a trial on the merits. In fact, if your attorney (or you acting pro se) allow the mention of the settlement offer to be entered into the court records, he/she or you are a fool.

In many jurisdictions, especially in California, mediation is a requirement before trial. Simply put, the court expects the two sides to attempt to reach an agreement before approaching a lawsuit. If agreement isn't reached, it has no bearing on the facts of the case.

Answer 4

Yes, usually (in most states) rules of evidence prevent offers of compromise from being introduced at trial. You can't just tell a jury (or a judge) that since they made an offer to settle, they accepted liability. That is not generally allowed, in fact, I'm not sure if there is any exception to that...

Answer 5

Possibly, if they made a fair value in the opinion of the Judge, you could lose in Court.

At worst, if the Judge decides your claim in frivolous and the other party had a counterclaim, the Judge could decide in their favor and you would not only have to pay for their counterclaim, but their attorney fees and expense and Court Costs.

Answer 6

There are lots of exceptions, but they are likely irrelevant. The whole reason why cases settle is because if you turn down the offer, you could walk away with nothing.