Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New Jersey

Re: Settlement Offer

Here's the thing: YOU are responsible for whether or not you take the settlement, no matter what your attorney says. I and every other attorney has had to deal with clients who are SURE they've got million dollar cases, but when we look at the law and the facts, we think they are getting a good, if not great, deal to walk away with expenses. I'm not saying that that's your case, but I think you need to have a second opinion. Once an attorney gets to the point of refusing to take the case any further, it's probably because the time she spends working on your case will bring her hourly rate down to minimum wage. 1/3 of $10,000 for three years' work is not at all uncommon in civil rights, and isn't really worth the time, in the business sense. Nonetheless, you have the choice of saying "Look, if you're not going to take my case any further, I'm going to have to go to the judge and get you replaced. You may get your fee, you may not, but holding that over my head to get me to take what I consider to be an unfair settlement won't work." I say this, because judges can be asked to speak with clients ethically during settlement negotiations,--if the judge feels that the client has a better case, s/he will also make that clear to the attorney in a number of ways [adverse rulings, etc.]. On the other hand, if the judge wants a settlement and the parties are close, the case will settle, so ask your attorney if the judge has given any sort of hint as to the merits of your case. Don't just assume your lawyer is acting badly: I've settled cases that I know we would have lost at trial, because there were problems in the facts that any competent attorney would have hammered us on. Taking a lower settlement is better than no settlement or a future of appeals. That's the chance you take at trial, so if s/he says it's a good deal, then explore all aspects of it, and make up your own mind. It's entirely normal for one settlement to cover all claims, and it might be that some facts in one claim are so damaging to your other case, that you'd be better off settling. An hour of your lawyer's time to explain it to you [without either of you flying off the handle] would be an hour well spent.