Maryland medical malpractice attorney Marcus Boston explains whether the fact that your doctor tried to settle your case before trial mean that the court will allow the jury to know this fact. You do not think that the settlement offer is fair and you deny the offer.
The quick answer to the question is that the court will not allow into evidence the fact that the doctor tried to settle the case before trial. The reason being is that settlement plays a big role in civil cases and also criminal cases through plea bargains. The court in many instances tries to make sure that the parties to a case have done all that they can to try and work the case out on their own, without the need of a judge or jury.
The fact that a settlement will not be mentioned at trial in many instances will allow the sides to freely talk about a resolution to the case. However, there are times in which settlement is just not an option. For whatever reason the doctor may think that fighting the injured patient’s case to a jury verdict is the way to go.
Same for the person bringing the suit. They may think that the doctor’s settlement offer is not enough to offset their losses, such as future medical bills, current and future lost wages, etc…When a settlement cannot be reached, the court will make no mention of the settlement because the court wants the jury to make a decision on the case based on the evidence presented in court regarding the doctor’s actions or inaction.
The court does not want the jury to not listen to all the evidence and base their decision on a settlement offer…because the doctor must have done something wrong because he tried to settle. This thinking is not necessarily accurate because a doctor can attempt to settle a case for a number of reasons which have nothing to do with liability.
So why am I explaining all of this to you today? Because maybe you have questions regarding your Maryland medical procedure? Maybe you are wondering if you have a Maryland medical malpractice case. Here’s what you do, pick up the phone and give me a call at 301-850-4832. Or you can email me at medicalinjury “at” bostonlawllc.com (Remember to replace the “at” with @. We write the email like this to combat email spammers). We answer questions like yours regarding Maryland medical malpractice all the time and we would be glad to hear your story.
