Once again in 2010, the number of civil trials was astonishingly small. Nineteen civil cases were tried to verdict in Erie County in 2010 and only 11 of those were tried to a jury. The other 8 were bench trials. While the Court did not track the results of all the civil filings, there were statistics kept of the outcome of Erie County medical malpractice trials. In Erie County in 2010, there were three Pennsylvania medical malpractice trials. Of these, the defense won 2 and the plaintiff prevailed in 1.
Actually, compared to the rest of Pennsylvania, Erie County in 2010 was a relatively favorable venue for plaintiffs. Allegheny County, for example, had 14 medical malpractice trials and the defense won 12 of those. Montgomery County was even worse, trying 17 medical malpractice cases, all of them resulting in defense verdicts.
As the number of personal injury trials decreases, so too does the number of Pennsylvania injury lawyers with meaningful trial experience. You might ask, “So, what?” If so few cases try then why does it matter if my lawyer has trial experience?
It matters because insurance companies carefully track information about trials and the Pennsylvania attorneys who will make the investment of time, money and risk necessary to conduct them. If your lawyer is known to the insurance company as one who absolutely will not make that investment then you can reasonably predict that the insurance company will not offer as much in settlement to resolve your case. It may even be that the insurance company will be willing to push your case far harder and further than they might otherwise, simply because they know that once the case gets close to trial there is a near perfect likelihood that the inexperienced lawyer will cave in.
Contact An Experienced Pennsylvania Trial Lawyer
The lawyers at Purchase, George & Murphey, P.C. have an established track record of trying civil cases. To meet with Tim George or Eric Purchase and discuss your Erie injury case, call today: 814-273-2010/toll free 814-273-2010. The consult is free and we won’t charge a fee in your injury case unless we recover money for you.