Frequently Asked Questions about Litigation of Personal Injury and Wrongful Termination Cases
1. How long will it take for my case to settle or resolve?
- There is no way to tell for sure when your case will be resolved, because it depends on so many factors, including your expectations about the outcome of the case, the opposing side's strategy of fighting the case and how aggressive v reasonable they will be, how busy the court is, where you case will be filed, and the way that the attorneys for both sides go about handling your case. A case can take as little as a few weeks to resolve after a few phones calls and an informal negotiation, and up to two years or longer, if the case goes to trial and then later possibly to appeal, which is extremely rare, but not impossible. Most cases, however resolved within anywhere between 6 months and a year and half.
2. What is Case Management Conference (CMC)?
- Case Management Conference is a very brief hearing where court wants to know the status of the case, to make sure that the parties are moving the case forward toward some kind of resolution or trial. Typically, the first CMC takes place anywhere between three an six months after the lawsuit is filed. During that CMS, the parties discuss the approximately timeline of conducting discovery and/or planning some kind of alternative resolution proceedings, such as mediation, arbitration, or a settlement conference. Although the parties to the case may be present at CMC hearings, there is absolutely no reason for them to be there if they are represented by attorneys. Further, in many cases they attorneys attend hearings by phone and they are not even present in the courtroom.
3. How much is my case worth?
- This is an inherently speculative question. Any attorney who guarantees a particular $ to his/her client is violating the rules of professional responsibility, as many factors that affect and determine the value of the case do not depend on the attorneys. In personal injury cases, assuming that the liability of the third-party driver defendant is clear and undisputed, the recovery will depend on the extent of the injuries, cost of length of treatment, the availability of insurance coverage to cover the injury, any permanent injuries suffered and the need for future treatment as well as many other factors, including how flexible both parties are and how willing they are to compromise their position to settle the case before trial.
In employment and wrongful termination cases, liability is rarely clear or at least in the vast majority of cases it's is disputed by the defendant. No party to a discrimination, harassment or retaliation claim can be sure of winning. This must be taken into consideration. Other than that, the main factors that affect the value of the case are your rate of pay and how much you lost in wages either due to being terminated or for other reasons, any associated emotional distress with the circumstances that lead to your termination or followed your termination, availability of insurance coverage, to the employer and other intangible, such as your attorney's reputation, the employer's philosophy on defending your particularly lawsuit.
4. Will I win my case?
- The important rule of ethics to remember is that attorneys are not allowed to guarantee results, because the outcome of a legal case is inherently unpredictable. In fact, if anyone guarantees a result for you, I would urge you to take that with a great degree of skepticism and ask yourself whether the attorney you are dealing with is trustworthy and credible, if he is making promises to do things that simply don't solely depend on him/her.
5. Will I have to pay taxes on my settlement?
- Personal injury settlements are not taxable. Employment / wrongful termination cases are subject to tax withholdings just like wages and income/compensation for services. More often than not, employers treat wrongful termination settlements as wages in that they take standard payroll deductions from the entire settlement or at least from part thereof. The reason that many, if not most, employers are reluctant to issue the full settlement amount as 1099 income is because they are concerned about tax audit which may possible reveal a situation where it looks like an employee got paid income and the employer didn't do what it was supposed to do - withhold all the typical employee deductions.
To minimize the tax burden on the Plaintiff's share of settlement, an attorney may ask that his share of settlement be issued to him directly in a separate check. Most employers have no problem doing that. Some attorneys are not willing to request a separate check because they don't want the opposing side to know exactly how much they get paid. The attorney may also ask that the Plaintiff's share will be treated at least in part as 1099 misc income. For instance, if there is a $60,000 settlement and the attorneys share is 30%, he can ask the employer to issue a check to attorney directly for $20,000, and then to have $10,000 out of the remaining $40,000 treated as 1099 income, thereby taking payroll deductions only from $30,000 of the Plaintiff's share.
- There is no way to tell for sure when your case will be resolved, because it depends on so many factors, including your expectations about the outcome of the case, the opposing side's strategy of fighting the case and how aggressive v reasonable they will be, how busy the court is, where you case will be filed, and the way that the attorneys for both sides go about handling your case. A case can take as little as a few weeks to resolve after a few phones calls and an informal negotiation, and up to two years or longer, if the case goes to trial and then later possibly to appeal, which is extremely rare, but not impossible. Most cases, however resolved within anywhere between 6 months and a year and half.
2. What is Case Management Conference (CMC)?
- Case Management Conference is a very brief hearing where court wants to know the status of the case, to make sure that the parties are moving the case forward toward some kind of resolution or trial. Typically, the first CMC takes place anywhere between three an six months after the lawsuit is filed. During that CMS, the parties discuss the approximately timeline of conducting discovery and/or planning some kind of alternative resolution proceedings, such as mediation, arbitration, or a settlement conference. Although the parties to the case may be present at CMC hearings, there is absolutely no reason for them to be there if they are represented by attorneys. Further, in many cases they attorneys attend hearings by phone and they are not even present in the courtroom.
3. How much is my case worth?
- This is an inherently speculative question. Any attorney who guarantees a particular $ to his/her client is violating the rules of professional responsibility, as many factors that affect and determine the value of the case do not depend on the attorneys. In personal injury cases, assuming that the liability of the third-party driver defendant is clear and undisputed, the recovery will depend on the extent of the injuries, cost of length of treatment, the availability of insurance coverage to cover the injury, any permanent injuries suffered and the need for future treatment as well as many other factors, including how flexible both parties are and how willing they are to compromise their position to settle the case before trial.
In employment and wrongful termination cases, liability is rarely clear or at least in the vast majority of cases it's is disputed by the defendant. No party to a discrimination, harassment or retaliation claim can be sure of winning. This must be taken into consideration. Other than that, the main factors that affect the value of the case are your rate of pay and how much you lost in wages either due to being terminated or for other reasons, any associated emotional distress with the circumstances that lead to your termination or followed your termination, availability of insurance coverage, to the employer and other intangible, such as your attorney's reputation, the employer's philosophy on defending your particularly lawsuit.
4. Will I win my case?
- The important rule of ethics to remember is that attorneys are not allowed to guarantee results, because the outcome of a legal case is inherently unpredictable. In fact, if anyone guarantees a result for you, I would urge you to take that with a great degree of skepticism and ask yourself whether the attorney you are dealing with is trustworthy and credible, if he is making promises to do things that simply don't solely depend on him/her.
5. Will I have to pay taxes on my settlement?
- Personal injury settlements are not taxable. Employment / wrongful termination cases are subject to tax withholdings just like wages and income/compensation for services. More often than not, employers treat wrongful termination settlements as wages in that they take standard payroll deductions from the entire settlement or at least from part thereof. The reason that many, if not most, employers are reluctant to issue the full settlement amount as 1099 income is because they are concerned about tax audit which may possible reveal a situation where it looks like an employee got paid income and the employer didn't do what it was supposed to do - withhold all the typical employee deductions.
To minimize the tax burden on the Plaintiff's share of settlement, an attorney may ask that his share of settlement be issued to him directly in a separate check. Most employers have no problem doing that. Some attorneys are not willing to request a separate check because they don't want the opposing side to know exactly how much they get paid. The attorney may also ask that the Plaintiff's share will be treated at least in part as 1099 misc income. For instance, if there is a $60,000 settlement and the attorneys share is 30%, he can ask the employer to issue a check to attorney directly for $20,000, and then to have $10,000 out of the remaining $40,000 treated as 1099 income, thereby taking payroll deductions only from $30,000 of the Plaintiff's share.