Retract my settlement decision and go through trail

Need to know my options. Can I retract my decision on a settlement and go
back to trial?

The story in short:

I got hit by a vehicle that is owned by a well known company and the driver
left the scene. The driver did not even show up for his depositions (did
defendants lawyers suggest for the driver not to show up as a tactical
move?).

On the day of the trail, my lawyer decides to prepare me by showing me how
the defense will attack me at trail and make me look like I was the cause of
the accident by not seeing the driver when it was the driver who drove in
the wrong direction, reversed and veered forward into me. I did not see
this vehile when I crossed the street because it was clear to cross as I
looked in all directions. Minutes from actual trial, my lawyer scares me
into agreeing to a settlement set by the judge before going to trial. The
lawyer starts saying I should take the Judges suggestion. He also adds I
don't want the Judge to get upset and that I don't want to make a judge
angry. He also mentioned that the court typist took a look at me and said
to him that I don't look Spanish and that the jury who consisted of Spanish
and Black people would be hard on me. He meant that they could hurt my case
because I looked white instead of Spanish. He talked about the jury hating
me because I did not go back to work, when my lawyer knows that for 3 years
I've been dealing with surgeries and treatment and cant' look for work
because that would cause for me to lose long term disability benefits even
if no one has employed me. I have a family to support. No one wants to hire
a disabled person. That will only cost a company more money and I would not
be hired because of it. After I settled, he told me later the chiropractor
who treated me years back and whom worked with my former lawyer for a
settlement on a recent car accident made a report that said I had permanent
injuries to my spine, yet I was never discharged from his clinic. That
would affect all my injury claims but my chiropractor never sent me out for
any surgeries. I never had the kind of injuries, surgeries and repeat
surgeries I had. It was the first and my lawyer said the chiropractor's
report would damage my claims. That could have be fought but my lawyer. He
seemed strong and confident because he knew this information before and said
we could beat it because !
I felt g
ood and was back working and very physical on the job. The whole point is
that at the end he was acting weird which If I would have sensed this kind
of behavior I would have sought another lawyer but this situation gave me
only 10 minutes to decide which was unfair. He should have prepared me more
and given me up to date information on my case and I could have given input
and made him perhaps more confident about my case.

So the question is, do I have rights after the settlement? The judge,
lawyers, court typist was in the judges office as the judge verbally was
finalizing the settlement agreement as the typist typed, he asked question
which was, if I was in any why pressured, provoked, etc in deciding the
settlement, I answered no because my lawyer was their and he was the one who
cause this problem. I could I tell the judge yes I without knowing the
consequences of doing so. Do I have the right to retract my decision to
settle and return to trial?

Need to know my options. Can I retract my decision on a settlement and go
back to trial?

The story in short:

I got hit by a vehicle that is owned by a well known company and the driver
left the scene. The driver did not even show up for his depositions (could the
defendants lawyers have suggested to the driver not to show up as a tactical move?).

On the day of the trail, my lawyer decides to prepare me by showing me how
the defense will attack me at my trail and make me look like I was the cause of the accident by not seeing the driver when it was the driver who drove in
the wrong direction, reversed and veered forward into me. I did not see
this vehile when I crossed the street because it was clear to cross as I
looked in all directions. Minutes from actual trial, my lawyer scares me
into agreeing to a settlement number suggested by the judge before going to trial. The lawyer starts saying I should take the Judges suggestion. He also adds I don't want the Judge to get upset and that I don't want to make a judge angry. He also mentioned that the court typist took a look at me and said to him that I don't look Spanish and that the jury who consisted of Spanish and Black people would be hard on me. He meant that they could hurt my case because I looked white instead of Spanish. He talked about the jury hating me because I did not go back to work. My lawyer knows that for 3 years I've been dealing with surgeries and treatment and cant' look for work because If I start submitting resumes I also have to inform them I'm disabled. Just starting a job search would instantly close my disability benifits. No one wants to hire a disabled person. That will only cost a company more money and I would not be hired based on my disability.

After I settled, my lawyer told me later the chiropractor
who treated me years back and whom worked with my former lawyer for a
settlement on a recent car accident made a report that said I had permanent
injuries to my spine. I left that clinic because one of his assistant chiropractor got rough in one of his adjustment sessions. I was never discharged from his clinic. I was never told to do surgery on my spine or that I had permenant damage. I saw that former lawyer twice when I meet him and when he came with a settlement forms and a check. My lawyer said that report he wrote would affect all my claims about neck and back but my chiropractor never sent me out for any surgeries. I never had the kind of injuries, surgeries and repeat surgeries I have now, they are the first and the worst of them. He seemed strong and confident before because he knew this information and said we could beat it. I felt good and was back to work and was very physical on the job at that time. The whole point is
that at the end he was acting weird which if I would have sensed this kind
of behavior earlier I would have sought another lawyer but this situation gave me only 10 minutes to decide which was unfair. I did not fully understand my situation or the rights I had. He should have prepared me more
and given me up to date information on my case and I could have given input
and perhaps made him more confident about my case at the end. I feel he was riding me until the end to hold on to his cut rather split it with another lawyer.

So the question is, do I have rights after the settlement? The judge,
lawyers, court typist was in the judges office as the judge verbally was
finalizing the settlement agreement as the typist typed away, he asked questions which was, if I was in any way pressured, provoked, etc in deciding the settlement, I answered no only because my lawyer was there and he was the one who caused this problem. How could I tell the judge yes without knowing the consequences of doing so. Do I have the right to retract my decision to settle and return to trial?

[able1]

You could ask the judge to do so but it will be very very hard.

But it is worth a try perhaps.

You can also seek a remedy against the lawyer if need be...and if he was not acting properly.

I am not sure how to ask the judge. Do I go to the court house myself were the judge is or do I ask my current lawyer to do that? Would that be against his own interest for me to decide to go back to trial?

What do you mean - remedy?

You have to ask for a hearing--with or without your lawyer, but by far better to use a lawyer.

I tried to ask at an office in court house if I could reverse my settlement decision by asking if i could see the judge. when they asked for what reason then I told them it was to reverse my decision an go to trial. They said I could not see the judge but that I needed to talk to my lawyer about it. So I am not sure exactly what you mean by asking a judge if the to court office blocked me. They may have not been the people to ask but the court officers directed me to this office and that office did ask for information about the case which they searched for and found on their computer.

I really need to now how to do this procedurally. I think time is of the essence.
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On another note, how can I find another lawyer and how do I rate their performance? One confusing thing about choosing a lawyer is that sometimes your hiring a law firm and don't have any idea who your lawyer is going to be or how good they are?
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I like to ask other question. that might interest all readers.

When an company finds a lawyer to represent them and the lawyer is currently on the case for that company, during that course of the case, the company latter decides they need another lawyer to represent them. It doesn't seem like a problem and I bet they are informed when they make this decision. When a regular person like me(for the lack of a better term) looks for a lawyer because they've been in an accident or other reason, the person finds one but does not have any idea about how good they are or who their lawyer is going to be but that regular person uses that lawyer out of desperation because of the time or pressure or lack of knowledge about the success rate of that firm or lawyer they chose. In the course of the case, that person believes they must continue with that lawyer. The lawyer does not give out information that allow the person to assess the lawyer, stratedy or case which would cause a person to choose another lawyer but give only hopeful information that would cause the person to stay with the lawyer, like saying I just been informed there is a second insurance worth 10 mill, so that 15 million dollars. On the day before or on the day of trial, you learn exactly where you stand. Your told all the negatives, all the way from your case is worth 250 thousand and with other disturbing news like the jury won't like you because your different from them and wont be treated fair and so forth. Your under pressure and now your under your lawyers control. This is the point were a regular person's case will fail and I don't think this is fair. Because of this information, you had no chance in advance of evaluating the lawyer and their strategy and no chance of choosing another lawyer. So my question is this, as a client of any lawyer, shouldn't the lawyer tell their clients how and that they can change lawyers at anytime? Should a client have to wait on the day of trial just to have a truck load of dissappointing withheld information that would scare the crap out of the client and stop them from going to trial and live the only choice of just accepting a settlement?