At mediation an adjuster insisted that good money was being offered. She explained to the mediator that the reason the case wasn’t settling was that because the greedy plaintiff’s attorney (me) was putting his own financial interests ahead of the client’s.

That made me frustrated. I hate being misunderstood. I think it relates back to childhood. I had a speech impediment and people had a hard time understanding what I was saying.

But back to the point…. After feeling frustrated I realized that if the adjuster—who works in the industry—misunderstood what was going on most other people would too.

The adjuster thought that greedy trial lawyers made more money trying than settling cases. The reality is that personal injury attorneys may collect the largest fees on cases they take to trial, but they earn the most money on cases that they settle.

This was summed up by some attorneys I met 35 years ago: “We make money on thin files; we lose money on thick files.”

I try to give the advice that’s best for each client. (Because every client’s circumstances are different.) And ultimately it’s the client’s decision to settle their cases or go to trial.

I don’t want there to be moral hazard created by diverging interests. Fortunately, even if the fee/time quotient isn’t always optimized by going to trial, being known to insurance companies as one of the rare personal injury attorneys who is actually willing to try cases increases the value of every claim in the office.

Misunderstanding and the Thin File