Hey, South Texas, are you curious if Court TV is a fair representation of how personal injury cases are handled in real life?

Who doesn’t love a good “reality show?” One very popular type of reality show involves legal disputes via judge shows.  The People’s Court (https://www.youtube.com/@peoplescourttv) and Judge Judy were the trailblazers who helped inspire more judicial stars with the same format. 

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People love legal drama as long as it’s not their own.  And some may even find it educational.  But is it a fair depiction of personal injury cases?  No.  TV court cases are small claims-type cases.  They are filled with emotional turmoil and petty arguments.  That’s the drama that gets the ratings.  Exes fighting over custody of a cherished dog, or former lovers who battle over who owed the last six months’ rent.  

The producers go out digging through current small claims cases to find the juiciest stories.  Then, they contact the parties involved and offer them “binding arbitration,” which means the parties agree to allow the final decision to be made by an “arbitrator.” This is a waiver of rights to go to court and an agreement to resolve the dispute via the arbitrators’ decision. 

We assume people are willing to go this route even if they think they’ll lose because they don’t pay, the show does. Letting the network cover their court costs may be worth a little humiliation! 

Court TV may have a critical lesson for your personal injury case

We’ve covered personal injury court TV shows and who pays, but how does it relate to a real-life personal injury case? First, it’s nowhere near the same as a personal injury case. We deal with insurance companies, commercial trucking companies, and other parties that aren’t represented on TV. Plus, there are various details around compensation only a real professional attorney will be able to negotiate. 

One important lesson from these dramatic legal shows is that the biggest mistake people make is showing up unprepared, and that can easily translate to a real personal injury case.

When you’ve been in a car accident and decide to deal directly with the insurance adjuster, you probably think you’re prepared, but you never really are.  It’s not the adjustor’s job to “take your word for it,” even if the evidence proves you are not at fault.  It’s their job to settle for as little as possible, and if they can get you to go on record to “accept some blame” for the accident (https://jvlawfirm.net/practice-areas/accident-attorneys/), even better. 

There are plenty of court TV examples where a defendant or plaintiff arrives with a few papers and witnesses to declare they are ‘in the right’ only to have the judge believe otherwise.  This is the same mistake people make when they think their story will be the one an insurance adjustor finds compelling enough to agree with.  Then, a compensation check that covers the entire claim will be magically sent without any argument.  The reality is that is likely not going to happen. 

Get a real professional to manage your real personal injury case. 

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