Choosing between the 8 figure settlement and the trial gamble in the Duke case

Back in 2017, when I was still a paralegal at a Philly firm, we had to pick whether to advise a client to take an $8.2 million settlement offer or roll the dice at trial. I pushed hard for the settlement because the opposing expert was bulletproof on paper, but the partner wanted the courtroom win. We went to trial, spent 11 days on evidence, and the jury came back with $2.1 million, less than a third of what was on the table. That taught me to weigh the bird in hand way heavier, but I still wonder if the precedent might have helped future cases. Has anyone else made the call to go to trial and had the numbers swing against them like that?

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christopher_west128d ago

That bit about "the bird in hand way heavier" hit me hard. I had a similar thing happen back in 2019, not as big as your case, but we turned down a 400k offer and the jury gave us 90k. It still stings when I think about it. The precedent part is the tricky thing, because you never really know how much it helps later cases until years go by. I think you did the right thing pushing for the settlement, even if the partner overruled you. Trial is a coin flip at best, and someone else's money on the line makes it worse.