Most people don’t like getting litigious. They would prefer avoiding dramatic courtroom scenes, or they would rather watch them on TV. If you have to make a courtroom appearance in a personal injury lawsuit, you probably won’t like that very much, whether you’re defending yourself or you’re the plaintiff.
Navigating the complexity of personal injury claims isn’t easy, so you must make sure you get a great lawyer if you’re in either of these positions. The right lawyer might get a judgment in your favor if you’re the plaintiff. They might successfully defend you as well.
Let’s discuss ways personal injury lawsuits can permanently change your lifestyle. You can sometimes see positive changes after such a case, but you’ll just as likely see some negative ones.
You Might Get a Big Windfall
We’ll start by talking about some potentially positive changes that can come about in your life if you win a personal injury lawsuit. Let’s say you file a lawsuit because a person or entity harmed you. Maybe you used a product that a company made, and it injured you. You sued the company and got a large cash judgment in your favor.
If you get that windfall, you must first pay your lawyer. They will usually take 30-40% if you’re paying them on a contingency basis. Most personal injury attorneys use the contingency payment system.
Once you have that money, you must decide what to do with it. If it’s a large amount, maybe you’ve never had that much cash before at one time. You must consult with your family before you decide on the next best move.
You Can Use That Money and Go to College
Maybe you never went to college. Now, you have that chance. If you feel that getting a college degree will change your life for the better, that’s a sensible idea. You can get a better job if you get a degree from an accredited institution of higher learning.
Maybe you don’t have much interest in going back to school. However, you might have kids who will want that someday.
You can take the money and put it in a savings account. You can tell your kids that if they get good grades, eventually, they can get into an excellent college, and you have the money to pay for it. You can incentivize them getting good grades in middle school and high school that way.
You Can Use That Money and Buy a Home
Maybe you don’t have kids, or you don’t feel like using the money for college for them. Perhaps buying your own home appeals instead.
Some people rent apartments or houses their whole lives, and they never become homeowners. The younger generations seem to produce fewer homeowners since some people can’t afford the cost of a down payment or the monthly mortgage payments.
You can become a homeowner with that money. If you get enough, you can buy a home outright. If you’re paying cash, you can often outbid other potential homebuyers.
If you can’t afford a house outright with the money from your personal injury lawsuit, maybe you can at least afford the down payment. If you have a steady job, you can probably get a mortgage from a local credit union or bank.
You should feel proud that you bought a home. You can fix it up the way you like it. Some renters don’t bother doing that with their apartments, but with your own home, you can make any changes you want, from paint to flower boxes.
You Might Lose a Great Deal of Money
Of course, nothing says you’ll win your personal injury lawsuit. Maybe you defended yourself in court against a charge of negligence. For instance, perhaps someone hurt themselves in their home, and they sued you. If the jury decides in their favor, you must pay the amount the jury mandates.
If you’re unlucky, this could bankrupt you. You might lose every cent you have. In these situations, you must pull together all the money you can to pay the judgment against you. If you don’t do it, the court will come after you and liquidate any assets that you concealed.
This is how a personal injury lawsuit can devastate your life. You might lose a spouse or partner because of the stress such a judgment puts on your relationship. You may have to essentially start over from scratch. You will have to rebuild everything you had, and it could take many years.
You May Feel Bitter After a Court Loss
Maybe you brought a personal injury lawsuit against a person or entity that hurt you or made you sick. Perhaps a corporation’s product even killed a family member, and you’re bringing the lawsuit on their behalf.
However, maybe the jury doesn’t feel that you proved negligence. It’s a high bar sometimes, and you need abundant evidence if you want that crucial jury verdict in your favor.
If you lose your court case, you probably won’t pay the lawyer anything, especially if you set up a contingency payment plan. However, you might feel cheated. You may think you proved the guilty person or entity harmed you or a loved one, but the jury didn’t see it that way.
That can have a serious impact on your mental state. You may feel angry about the verdict, and those feelings can last for a very long time in some cases. If a loved one died, for instance, and you feel the guilty party got away free without paying the consequences, you may feel nothing but bitterness and resentment from that point forward.
If this ever happens, coming back from it takes time and a mental adjustment on your part. You may need therapy to get over it.
In time, hopefully, you will start feeling better. There is no denying, though, that personal injury lawsuit outcomes can have profound effects on your life, whether bad or good.
