Settlement or Trial? Helping Clients Make the Hardest Choice After an Injury
When you’ve been injured, or when you’ve lost someone you love because of negligence, one of the hardest questions you face in your legal case is: Do I settle now, or should I take my case to trial?
It’s not an easy decision. Settlements provide certainty, but they may not always reflect the full value of your case. Trials involve risk and stress, but sometimes they are the only way to secure real justice and accountability.
At Palmetto State Injury Lawyers, we believe this choice should never feel like pressure. Instead, it should feel like a clear, calm decision made with the right information.
The “Village” vs. The “River”
At the South Carolina Association for Justice convention, I was introduced by my colleague Liam Duffy to Nate Silver’s book On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything. In it, Silver describes two ways of thinking about risk:
- The Village: focused on safety, predictability, and avoiding uncertainty. Village thinking is driven by fear and the desire for guarantees.
- The River: willing to face risk strategically, with courage and patience, in pursuit of greater outcomes. River thinking is calm, rational, and focused on process rather than fear.
When it comes to personal injury cases, clients are understandably overwhelmed by stress, pain, and sometimes financial pressure. My job is to help them by giving them the tools to make their decision with confidence.
Tools We Use to Help Clients Decide
We’ve developed simple worksheets and handouts to help clients sort through what matters most to them. These tools ask questions like:
- Do I value certainty even if it means less compensation?
- Am I willing to accept risk in order to seek a larger recovery?
- Is speed more important for my family, or is accountability the higher priority?
By wrirng down their own priorities, clients can see the trade-offs more clearly. The worksheets give them a way to see what matters most and make a decision they feel confident about.
Why This Matters
Insurance companies know which lawyers (and which clients) will go to trial. The more prepared and empowered our clients are, the stronger our position becomes — whether that means negotiating a fair settlement or standing before a jury.
Helping clients “think like a River” doesn’t mean pushing them to trial or pushing them to settle. It means helping them make calm, informed choices, guided by strategy rather than fear. And when clients make decisions this way, they not only secure the best possible result in their case — they also find peace in knowing the choice was truly theirs.
✅ At Palmetto State Injury Lawyers, our role is more than just fighting in the courtroom. It’s about guiding clients through their hardest decisions with clarity, compassion, and courage.
If you or someone you love is facing the uncertainty of a legal case, we’re here to help you navigate the choice between settlement and trial — with steady hands, strategic insight, and unwavering advocacy.