Here's something that hasn't been happening so much since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: a settlement on the eve of trial.

But with courts resuming a more normal schedule, it may be a sign of things to come again. Plaintiffs attorneys Mike Rafi and Alan Stagmeier Jr. of the Rafi Law Firm settled a case for $1.5 million at 6 p.m. March 18 as they were preparing for the trial to begin Monday morning. "Alan and I were prepared," Rafi said in an interview. "If we did not have a trial scheduled, this never would have happened." He said the settlement was for $250,000 more than the $1.25 million State Farm insurance policy limit.