1. it's always far cheaper to settle. ALWAYS

2. no matter what you have to give up, no matter what it costs, no matter what you have to accept, see number 1

3. Lawyers don't exist because every case is open and shut and can be tried on it's merits. they exist because there are always mitigating and/or confusing circumstances that can be exploited by clever folks

to win a case they should have lost

therefore, you can have an absolutely air tight case, and it's still better to settle, because your legal opposition is getting paid to find a way to make it not air tight. And they most often will.

I litigated hundreds.... maybe thousands of cases in my career. I actually took to trial and took a court judgement on a few dozen (because there was just no reaching a settlement). Of those, I "won" a

handful, and nearly all of those were appealed, and maybe still be on appeal for all I know (I saw no final judgments in the course of my career).

and those cases that went to trial and went to appeal after that were all litigated by big companies with a staff of in house counsel, who weren't paying the actual hourly cost of all that litigation.

oh, and lest it seem that I'm implying that attorneys only exit to exploit loopholes and circumstances, I'm not. Some of them exist to figure out in advance what loopholes and circumstances will be exploited

and help you defend against them, or (more usually) advise you why your ass will be handed to you on a platter and you should settle. Those are the good guys

Thanks for that post. More people need to read and understand it. Seriously, the assumptions some people make about settlements is scary and sad.