Million Dollar Injury Settlement or Go to Trial - What's the Right Choice?

You've been offered a million dollars or more to settle.  You know the case will pay twice as much at trial.  What should you do?   This type of choice requires a careful balance of risk and reward.   One of the risks of a high dollar jury verdict is the delay (years) and potential loss of the verdict on appeal.  Here is an example:

Odom v Los Angeles Community College

In April of 2025 a jury verdict of over 10 million dollars was reversed on appeal. This is the other reason a settlement can be better than an excellent trial verdict. The case was from Los Angeles and it is Odom v. Los Angeles Community College District.

In the Odom case, a professor claiming sexual harassment and on the job retaliation. She said that the schools vice president made inappropriate comments and advances toward her over an eight-month period. When she didn't comply with his demands, she says he retaliated by trying to move her program and firing her staff.

The case went to trial and a jury gave her over $10 million in damages.

The California Court of Appeal looked at the trial and found that the judge made rulings that were unfair to the Community College District. They found that the court should not have allowed the jury to see 20 year old newspaper articles with negative information about the vice president and the jury should not have beentold about his prior misdemeanor criminal convictions. The court of appeal threw out the verdict and more than five years after the case was first filed the professor has to start all over again.

Daniel Horowitz is an experienced trial lawyer and he has many verdicts over a million dollars but Daniel also knows when meeting the other side in the middle is better than going to war. It is all a matter of judgment and experience.

If you need a lawyer in a personal injury or discrimination case call Daniel Horowiz at 925-283-1863. He can help.