Answer Personal Injury

Two or more plaintiffs may join together and sue a defendant. Alternatively, a plaintiff may sue two or more defendants. Joinder of parties under Rule 20 is not required and is often referred to as "permissive joinder.

In multiple defendant cases, a jury is usually asked to allocate fault between the defendants (assuming no fault on the part of the plaintiff) and the defendants are asked to pay damages according to their percentage of the fault.

TWO DEFENDANTS MAY SHARE ONE ANSWER FORM, BUT EACH MUST SIGN THE ANSWER AND PAY A SEPARATE FILING FEE.

You can sue more than one defendant for the same incident or contract. But each defendant must have some actual interest in the subject of your case and must be (at least arguably) responsible somehow for your injury.

Settling CasesMost civil cases are settled by mutual agreement between the parties. A dispute can be settled even before a suit is filed. Once a suit is filed, it can be settled before the trial begins, during the trial, while the jury is deliberating, or even after a verdict is rendered.

Most personal injury cases settle out of court, and for good reason. Settlement is faster, less expensive, and less risky. Most personal injury cases settle out of court, well before trial, and many settle before a personal injury lawsuit even needs to be filed.

Four percent to five percent of the personal injury cases in the United States go to trial. 95 percent to 96 percent of personal injury cases are settled pretrial. (Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, Federal Tort Trials and Verdicts).

There are other reasons why insurance companies prefer to settle outside of court besides the unpredictable outcome from a jury trial.A settlement also saves litigation costs for the insurance company. The insurance company is also able to close the associated claim file.

An average personal injury settlement amount is anywhere between $3,000 and $75,000.Of course, most cases fall in between the very high and very low end of average settlements. There are also outliers you've probably heard about people getting settlements that are millions of dollars.