David has made a big mistake, allowing this case to drag out for so long. This happened almost five years ago. If the damages are legitimate and directly linked to the event, the five year wait gives the impression that Copperfield was not too concerned with the accident. Juries like to punish corporations or entertainers who seem out of touch and without empathy for how they have affected average people.
One thing the insurance companies don’t want you to know is that it is THEY who drag things out. David Copperfield and/or the venue is insured. The insurance company puts on his defense. David has no say-so as to whether or not they pay up or drag it out in court.
Interestingly, when or if the case goes to court, the jury is forbidden to know that it’s an insurance company defending the case.
It’s something to know if you’re ever on a jury in a civil litigation case. Say a kid in his third grade classroom is blinded by another kid flipping his pencil. The blinded kid’s parents sue the teacher and the school. The school and teacher are defended by their insurance company (either that or they’re self-insured which means they have a boat-load of money stashed just for situations like this).
It goes to trial. The jury only sees this lovely school teacher is being sued. She’s so nice and she’s a helper. They deny the blinded kid anything because hey, it was an accident, it wasn’t the teacher’s fault. Little do they know the school has insurance for this. I mean, come on, that’s what insurance is for. Accidents!
As my mama used to say, the insurance companies don’t build those big tall buildings because they’re giving all that money away.