Settlement

Published on: November 6, 2024

How do Personal Injury Cases Settle?

So, you’ve been hurt or injured in an accident.

You retain a personal injury lawyer (hopefully Brian Goldfinger or one of our team members at Goldfinger Injury Lawyers).

The case is running smoothly.

How and when will my personal injury case settle?

These are great questions! Let’s start by answering the easier question first.

When will my personal injury case settle?

The straight forward answer is that personal injury cases take time. There is little rhyme or reason as to when a case will settle. We tell all of our clients that the time which a case will settle varies, and is unpredictable. A personal injury lawyer cannot snap his/her fingers and command that a case settle for a certain amount of dollars. That’s just now how personal injury cases work. The only thing we know for sure is that cases take time to settle, so don’t expect anything to happen quickly; although sometimes things do happen quickly! You never know. And that’s the scary thing, but that’s also the exciting thing. You never know when you get a pleasant call from your personal injury lawyer presenting you with an offer. The next thing you know, you’re deep into negotiations and a deal gets done. Case closed.

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Published on: August 1, 2024

Signing Documents for Your Personal Injury Case

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

There is a lot of paperwork in personal injury cases.

I can recall as a young lawyer attending at criminal court on a set date or for disclosure. Most lawyers didn’t have any paper or documents with them. All they had, and all they needed was their calendar to set a date, or a script off memory to say to make sure their position was on the record for further use.

The civil lawyers (personal injury lawyers) had their litigation bags on wheels, which were supplemented by mountains of bankers boxes.

The calendars have been replaced by phones.

The bankers boxes have been replaced by laptops.

But what has not been replaced in personal injury cases are the volumes and volumes of documents require to paper and to build the case. This has not changed since my call to the bar over 20 years ago.

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Published on: January 25, 2024

What happens when my personal injury case settles?

By Goldfinger Injury Lawyers

Lots of clients want to know about what the last steps are in a personal injury case when the parties reach an agreement. What happens upon settlement? Does the money magically appear in my bank account? When will I receive my settlement funds? Are the settlement funds taxable? Do I have to go to Court to close my file? Is there any other work required of me for my case once the case has settled?

These are all great questions.

With this edition of the Toronto Injury Lawyer Blog, we hope to answer those “late in the case” questions, and more.

Let’s pretend for a moment that after many years of hard fought litigation; and after many arguments between the lawyers on both sides that everyone seems to agree on a deal in order to get the case settled.

The agreement takes place outside of Court, perhaps moments before trial, or perhaps at mediation or in an exchange of emails between the parties.

What will then take place is an exchange of documents between the lawyers which provide clear terms with respect to the terms of the settlement.

Those documents can take form in something called “Minutes of Settlement“. Or, they can take place through a simple letter or email detailing what has been agreed upon. The purpose of this is to confirm the terms of the deal, so that there are no misunderstandings between the parties.

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