You say "I'm not settling my case for less than $10 Million Dollars!"
You sued your doctor.
For medical malpractice.
For causing you permanent harm and injury.
Your neighbor down the street settled his case for $5 million dollars.
You know that your injuries are much worse than his.
You know your disabilities are much more permanent than his.
You read in the newspaper that people with lesser injuries have obtained verdicts of $10 million and up in the county where your case is pending. You know that your injuries are much worse than theirs. You know that if your case goes to trial and a jury reaches a verdict, they'll give you MUCH more than what you've read in the papers recently.
Your attorney tells you that you're on a different planet.
He tells you that you're not being realistic.
He asks you what information you have to reach the conclusion that your case is worth $10 million dollars in the venue where you case is pending.
You tell him about your neighbor.
You tell him about the news stories of similar cases.
You tell him in your gut that your case is worth much more than all the others who have similar injuries.
Your attorney tells you that you're full of it.
He tells you that's not reality.
He tells you that's not what happens in real life.
He tells you that you're missing huge pieces of information.
You simply don't know the facts.
You don't know what went on behind closed doors.
Here's what you don't know about those 'other' cases:
How old was the injured victim?
How did his injuries affect his daily activities?
What activities could he no longer do?
What was he limited from doing?
What did similar cases settle for in the same county?
When the jury reached their verdict and gave the injured patient many millions of dollars, what did the judge do to reduce the verdict?
When the losing party appealed the verdict, what did the appellate court judges do on appeal?
Did they throw the case out?
Did they reduce the verdict?
Did they recommend settling the case for a lesser amount?
Did they direct that a new trial be held on damages only?
Did they decide that the amount was appropriate?
Did the appellate court judges INCREASE the amount given claiming that it was insufficient?
There are a lot of factors that go into deciding the value of your case.
The point is that when you decide how much your case is worth, you must take into consideration lots of factors that are not publicly available in the news.
You cannot go only on the total amount a jury decided someone was entitled to receive.
Why not?
Because you don't know whether there were lost earnings that were considered.
You don't know whether they were earning $1 million dollars per year and have been unable to work for the past 3 years.
You don't know what their damages really were.
All you know is that you heard that someone settled their case for $5 million for similar injuries.
That's not enough for you to justify that your injuries are worth more.
Did you do a jury verdict search?
Did you try to learn what similar cases in similar venues have settled for?
If you continue to state that your case is worth $10 million just based on what you've heard and what you've read in the papers, then you're doing yourself and your case a disservice. You'd be better served by paying attention to the actual legal research your attorney has done on what similar cases in similar venues have settled for and what happened to those cases that went to verdict and later were appealed.