Crazy Facts About Legal Cases in America

Every year, hundreds of thousands of legal cases are brought in the United States, and nearly all need the help of a defense attorney, an expert in criminal law, a real estate attorney, an accident lawyer, a family law professional, or some other expert to sort out all the complicated legal issues surrounding any case. Whether you need a defense attorney or not, though, here are some of the crazy facts about legal issues in America.

• Hardly any personal injury cases actually go to a court. It probably seems like most personal injury issues end up being hashed out in a courtroom, but in reality, 5% or less ever go to trial. Everything else gets settled out of court.
• There are very specific common causes of our personal injury cases. In theory, all kinds of things can result in a personal injury. In reality, the Department of Justice says that most cases are the result of one of three things. Car accidents account for the most, at 52%. Medical malpractice is the second most common cause in 15% of cases. The third most common cause is product liability, at 5%.
• Drunk driving and distracted driving are behind most motor vehicle personal injury cases. If you never want to have to hire a defense attorney to defend a personal injury lawsuit after a car accident, you can’t do better than to swear off any driving after you’ve been drinking or while using a mobile device. Every two minutes in the United States, someone gets hurt in a drunk driving crash. Distracted driving numbers are up exponentially in recent years as well.
• Divorces often need some kind of legal help. Of all marriages in the United States, 41% of first marriages, 60% of second, and 73% of third will end in divorce. That’s 876,000 divorces a year, or a new one every 36 seconds. The most important reason attorneys usually have to get involved is when there are children. When a marriage fails, 30% of the time children under 18 are involved. A million of our children are caught up in divorce every year.
• Older people know they need estate planning; but the rest of us are bad at it. Another reason people need legal help is to make trusts and wills. When it comes to senior citizens, 72% have a living will. Younger adults, however, aren’t so good at making such arrangements. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans don’t have a will, in fact, including nearly 80% of millennials and 64% of Gen Xers. Unfortunately, it’s possible for someone to become ill and even die at any age, so every adult needs to make these arrangements.
• People really do get accused of crimes they didn’t commit. The cop shows might lead you to believe that the police never get things wrong and that defendants only a defense attorney to try and get away with a crime. In fact, estimates are that every year 10,000 people in America really do get wrongfully convicted, let alone simply charged, with a serious crime. This makes it really important to get a good defense attorney the moment you get accused of anything you did not do.

There’s a lot going on in the legal world of the United States every year, and things can be complicated and difficult. Thankfully, it’s possible to get a competent and experienced defense attorney or personal lawyer to help.