I never bother with them personally. What you're giving up (I think, not a lawyer here) is the right to sue the defendant for the same thing privately. Although

I never bother with them personally. What you're giving up (I think, not a lawyer here) is the right to sue the defendant for the same thing privately. Although it's unlikely you would ever do that, you're not really getting much in exchange for giving up that right, so why bother?