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During a pre-trial settlement conference, what is the likelihood that you will be able
to speak to the judge who's supervising these settlement discussions? Would you like to
learn the answer? Come join me as I share with you this great information. Hi. I'm Gerry
Oginski. I'm a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial lawyer practicing
law here in the state of New York. So now, as your case gets up to the point of trial,
we're going to have pre-trial settlement discussions. I may call you into court because I want you
there with me in the event the defense actually makes an offer. I want to be able to speak
to you about it and discuss the risks and benefits of accepting or rejecting an offer.
There may be certain instances where you turn around and say, "Hey. I want to speak to the
judge before I decide to either accept or reject an offer." How likely is it that you'll
be able to speak to the judge who's supervising these settlement discussions? The answer is
you might not be able to. On the other hand, there may be some instances where the judge
will agree to speak to you and there are many different reasons why the judge will not speak
to the injured victim. If I think to the client speaking to the judge is going to be a key
component of getting the client to agree or disagree with the settlement offer, then I'm
going to go back to the judge and explain why I believe it's important that the judge
speaks to my client. In some limited instances, the court will go ahead and allow us to go
in and speak to the judge. Now when that happens the judge is going to be very straightforward
and very blunt with the injured victim. And the judge will come right out and say listen,
"In this court, in this venue, in this type of case here is what I have seen in the past.
And if you do not accept this settlement there's a very good likelihood you could lose your
case. Now you may win this case but now you'll wind up going on appeal and it will take many
years to get an ultimate decision." On the other hand the judge may tell them, "Listen.
I can get a little bit more money. I'm going to speak to the defense attorney and then
bring you back in." And now the defense attorney is going to come in, the judge is going to
speak to them, see whether or not there's a possibility to obtain additional money to
compensate them. And if there is or isn't the judge will bring us back in and let us
know if he's been successful or not. But in the majority of cases the judge will not want
to speak to the litigant. It is my job, as the attorney who represents the injured victim,
to explain to you the risks and benefits of any proposed offer. And the judge is there
to put pressure on the defense, as well as on us, to try and reach a negotiated settlement
prior to going to trial. If we can't reach an agreement then the judge will simply give
us a trial date and now we go forward with trial. So why do I share this great information
with you? I share it with you to give you an insight and an understanding into what
goes on in the litigation process, especially as your case is coming up for trial. You know,
I realize you're watching this because you have questions or concerns about your own
particular matter. Well if your matter happened here in New York and you do have legal questions,
what I encourage you to do is pick up the phone and call me. I can answer your legal
questions. This is something that I do every single day and I'd love to talk to you. You
can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email at Gerry@Oginski-law.com. That's it for today's
quick video. I'm Gerry Oginski, have a wonderful day!