In regards to car accidents in California, can I research the settlement value of the case online? Can you drive to the court house and ask the clerk for results of past car accident cases in California? If I want to find out what the award and verdicts for similar cases and similar injuries and damages, can I find out online? Is there a website that I could read through the cases? How can I find out more about case values in California for car accident?

The clerk of the court will not give you any information so don’t bother. There are jury verdict and settlement reporting services. Many lawyers have access to these services as part of their practice. However, these services are expensive and usually bundled with other research tools and practice guides that an ordinary non-lawyer would not need nor understand. These services analyze and gather jury verdicts from car accident and other cases around the country and they can be a useful tool for lawyers.

However, if you are not a lawyer, even if you pay for this kind of service, your would have a great degree of trouble reading and understanding these result. A non-lawyer will not be able to key in on what is be important in one case and relate that to another case. Also, these reports can be full of legalese. As far as cases that settle (don’t go to verdict), there is less information about those. Even cases that go to verdict may settle for a different amount than the verdict. Settlements can be confidential. Even if they aren’t confidential, they are normally private and not publicly reported.

Even with the help of the subscription services referred to above, assessing car accident case value is a combination of skill and art that takes years for an attorney to develop. Just to name a few factors, one must consider the nature and extent of the medical treatment, the medical expenses, the kind of injury, whether the client has made a full recovery and how the injury affected the client’s life. Then you must consider the courthouse location as even a few miles distance can put you in a very different jury pool.

If you want to know more about your car accident case value, you should speak to a personal injury lawyer in California. Most of personal injury lawyers offer free consultations. Even if you have no intention of hiring one, and you just want to know how much to ask for, most lawyers would be willing to give you free advice. Most lawyers would consider these calls as an opportunity to create goodwill for the firm and build a relationship for a more important case in the future.