Why is My Personal Injury Case Taking So Long to Settle?

The days and weeks following an injury can be a confusing time full of questions you never thought you’d ask. And if you have a personal injury case, one of the most common is “how long is it going to take for my case to settle?” The answer is important, especially if you’re counting on the financial compensation from your personal injury settlement to pay for important bills.

While every personal injury case is different, there are some guidelines around how long settlements take.

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Why Some Personal Injury Cases Take Longer than Others

So, why is my lawsuit taking so long? Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

It often takes longer to settle a personal injury case than people would like or than your personal injury lawyer will tell you. Our research shows that the average is around 1.5 years from the day the accident occurs to the day the accident victim receives their check. But remember, this is an average. Some personal injury cases settle in as little as a few weeks, while others can drag on for years, some lead to litigation, and in some cases, clients flat out lose and walk away with no recovery either because a defendant is found not liable, there is no coverage available or there were no damages. There isn’t a perfect calculator for determining case duration (although we might just try building one), but let’s explore the most important factors.

Factors that Influence the Timeline

Finding yourself asking “why is my personal injury case taking so long?” Here are some factors that can be influencing your personal injury claim:

• You’re still receiving medical care to recover from the accident
• The insurance company doesn’t agree about who is to blame
• The personal injury settlement amount could be large 

You’re still getting treatment 

If you’re still receiving medical treatment, your car accident lawyer likely won't take the next step towards getting you a personal injury settlement . That’s because they won’t know the full extent of your treatment (because you’re still treating) and won’t know what to tell the insurance company about how seriously you were injured.

It’s a bit ironic because serious injuries typically require the most medical care and the more seriously injured people also usually need their car accident case to settle the fastest. At the end of the day, as you near the completion of your medical treatment and treatment, your insurance company, along with you and your personal injury attorney, is able to determine fair compensation and provide a car accident settlement offer.

Determining who is to blame

Some accidents - like a rear-end collision - are easy to prove who’s to blame (or to throw some legal jargon around, who’s “at fault.”). Others - like a slip & fall injury in a grocery store - may lead to more debate.

In cases where it’s hard to prove who is to blame, it could take time for everyone involved to learn the details. They may need to get witness statements, video evidence and more. If the details are disputed, the case may require filing a lawsuit and possibly a trial in court adding even more time to your case.

Proving who is to blame is called establishing “liability,” and is an important part of most personal injury cases that, while important, can, unfortunately, delay the settlement process.

Insurance companies take longer in bigger cases

Another key factor is the potential size of the settlement. It’s no surprise that if the settlement is expected to be a large amount of money, the insurance company is going to investigate every detail to make sure they get it right. They’ll read through every medical record, witness statement, and yes - even your social media accounts - in an effort to find a reason to lower the settlement amount. It’s also likely they will go through your medical history before the accident to make sure the injury you’re complaining of now didn’t actually happen before your car or truck accident.

And because cases with bigger settlements usually involve more serious injuries, the process of treatment and recovery takes longer too.

When an agreement on the settlement amount isn’t reached quickly, the insurance company is sometimes making a bet that you and your lawyer won’t file a personal injury lawsuit or that you don’t have the patience or money to wait. They’re like the casinos in Las Vegas: they have the data and resources and they’ve done this literally a million times before. Just one more reason why it’s good to have a trusted expert on your side, guiding you through the process.

Setting the right expectations

Personal injury lawyers are known to, well, overpromise when they’re trying to sign clients up early in their case, which is one of the reasons why you might decide to settle a claim without a lawyer. They’re then the masters of walking things back as the case goes on and their predictions don’t come to fruition. Find a personal injury lawyer who doesn’t tell you what you want to hear, but who tells you the truth. If a law firm is saying they’ll get you a big settlement offer overnight, it’s likely they are over-promising and will end up under-delivering.

Getting the right legal advice is a must. Make sure that your lawyer is transparent and sets the right expectations from the start, with a specific plan to keep you well informed along the way to avoid any surprises.

So even if your settlement process takes time, you’ll be prepared for the road ahead.

If you've been involved in an accident and are seeking legal support and representation, head over to Mighty's Accident Attorney Directory to find a trusted attorney in your area today.

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