Should You Go to Trial in a Personal Injury Case?
If you have been injured in Colorado and your case is moving forward, you will eventually face one of the biggest decisions in the entire process: accept a settlement or take your case to trial. The vast majority of personal injury cases, often estimated at more than 90 percent, resolve through settlement before a jury ever hears them. But that statistic alone should not make the decision for you. Some cases are worth fighting in court, and knowing the difference can mean a substantial change in the compensation you receive.
This guide walks through how settlement and trial differ, the factors that should shape your decision, and the advantages of each path.
Trial vs. Settlement: Key Differences
A settlement is a negotiated agreement between you and the at-fault party’s insurance company. You agree to accept a specific amount of money in exchange for releasing the defendant from further liability. Once you sign a release, the case is over, and you cannot come back later for more, even if your injuries turn out to be worse than expected.
A trial puts the decision in the hands of a judge or jury. Both sides present evidence, examine witnesses, and make arguments. The jury then decides who was at fault and how much compensation, if any, you should receive. A verdict can be significantly higher than any settlement offer on the table, but it can also be lower, or nothing at all.
The other major difference is timing. Settlements can be reached in months. Trials can take a year or more to reach, and appeals can extend the timeline further. If you are weighing a specific offer against a potential verdict, a settlement calculator can help you understand the general range your claim might fall into, though no tool replaces a case-specific evaluation from an attorney.
Factors to Consider
There is no universal answer to the settle-or-try question. The right choice depends on the specific facts of your case, your financial situation, and your tolerance for risk. Here are the factors that matter most.
Strength of Evidence
Strong evidence is the foundation of any successful trial. Clear liability, credible witnesses, thorough medical documentation, and persuasive expert testimony all increase the odds of a favorable verdict. If fault is disputed, if your medical records have gaps, or if witnesses are unreliable, a jury may not see the case the way you do. An honest assessment of your evidence, ideally from a lawyer who has tried cases in front of Colorado juries, should drive much of this decision.
Risk and Uncertainty
Juries are unpredictable. Even strong cases can result in disappointing verdicts, and Colorado’s modified comparative negligence rule adds another layer of risk. If a jury finds you 50 percent or more at fault, you recover nothing. If you are found partially at fault below that threshold, your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. A settlement removes that uncertainty entirely. You know exactly what you are getting and when.
Expenses and Time
Trials are expensive. Expert witness fees, court costs, deposition transcripts, and exhibit preparation add up quickly, and those costs typically come out of your recovery. Trials also demand your time and energy. You may need to testify, attend proceedings, and relive the accident in detail. For some injured people, the emotional cost of a trial outweighs the potential financial upside. For others, especially those with catastrophic injuries and lifelong losses, the additional recovery a verdict can deliver justifies the investment.
Defendant’s Ability to Pay
A verdict is only worth what you can actually collect. If the defendant carries minimal insurance and has few personal assets, a large jury award may be uncollectible beyond the policy limits. In that situation, settling for the available policy limits often makes more practical sense than spending a year pursuing a verdict you cannot enforce. Your attorney should investigate all available coverage, including umbrella policies and your own underinsured motorist coverage, before you make this call.
Advantages of Settlement
Settlement offers certainty, speed, and privacy. You receive guaranteed compensation without the risk of a jury awarding less or nothing at all. You get paid sooner, which matters when medical bills are piling up and you are missing work. Settlement negotiations are private, while trials create a public record. And settling spares you the stress of testifying and the emotional toll of extended litigation.
Settlements also give you more control. You and your attorney decide what amount is acceptable rather than leaving the outcome to twelve strangers. To understand what categories of compensation may be available in your case, our damages FAQ explains economic damages, non-economic damages, and how Colorado law treats each.
Advantages of Going to Trial
The most obvious advantage of trial is the potential for a significantly larger recovery. Insurance companies make settlement offers based on what they believe a jury might award, and when they undervalue a serious case, a trial is the mechanism for correcting that. Juries can award the full measure of damages, including pain and suffering, future medical care, and lost earning capacity, in amounts that insurers rarely offer voluntarily.
Real results illustrate the point. Our firm secured an traumatic brain injury verdict of $8.3 million for a minor whose injuries would affect the rest of her life. A verdict of that size reflects what a jury, after hearing all the evidence, concluded the injury was actually worth. No pre-trial offer came close.
Trial also delivers accountability. For some clients, having a jury publicly determine that the defendant was at fault carries real value beyond the dollar amount. And a willingness to try cases changes how insurers negotiate. Carriers track which firms actually take cases to verdict, and they make stronger offers to lawyers they know will not blink.
Consulting a Lawyer on Trial Decisions
The settle-or-try decision should never be made on instinct or frustration. It requires a clear-eyed analysis of your evidence, the available insurance coverage, the venue, the defense attorneys involved, and how similar cases have resolved in Colorado courts. An experienced trial attorney can model the realistic range of outcomes and help you weigh a concrete offer against an uncertain verdict.
Importantly, the final decision is always yours. Your lawyer advises, negotiates, and tries the case, but Colorado ethics rules require that the client decides whether to accept a settlement. Choose a firm with genuine trial experience, because insurers know which lawyers settle everything, and they price their offers accordingly. If you are facing this decision now, talk to an attorney who has stood in front of Colorado juries and can tell you, honestly, which path serves your case best.