One of the first questions clients ask after hiring a personal injury attorney is: How long is this actually going to take?
The Short Answer
Despite these variables, the most important factor in the process that most clients do not consider before hiring an attorney is the length of their medical treatment and recovery. The longer you take to heal, the longer before we know the extent of your injuries and the true value of your case.
Why Your Case Shouldn’t Settle Until Your Recovery Is Clear
As we previously discussed here, future medical expenses can be a significant factor when determining value for a personal injury case. If you settle before your doctors have a clear prognosis, whether you will need surgery, require on-going pain management, physical therapy, whether your condition is permanent, or whether you are more susceptible to re-injury as a result of the car crash, then you are leaving critical information out of your settlement negotiations.
Once you sign a settlement agreement, your case is over. You cannot go back to open your claim again if you need surgery six months later. Any symptoms that persist after the settlement should be reasonably accounted for and included in your settlement.
For most personal injury cases, the right time to consider settlement is after you have reached maximum medical improvement. This is the point where your condition has stabilized and your medical provider can project your future needs with reasonable certainty. That may be months or even years into your recovery. Rushing this process is how people settle for far less than what their case is actually worth.
The Personal Injury Case Timeline
While each personal injury case is different, most can be broken down into the following three (or four) phases. The time spent on each phase is dependent on a number of factors, but knowing the phases and how your attorney moves your case from one phase to the next is helpful for our clients, empowering them to make educated decisions about how they want their case to proceed.
Phase 1: Medical Treatment and Investigation
- Gathering all relevant medical records and bills
- Requesting and preserving evidence such as black box data, dash camera footage, and police records
- Investigating liability, gathering witness statements, and engaging crash reconstruction experts if necessary
- Identifying all available sources of insurance coverage and potential liens on your recovery
- Monitoring your treatment progress and documenting how your injuries have impacted your life
Phase 2: Demand Package Preparation
Once you have reached maximum medical improvement, your attorney will begin to create a demand package to send to the insurance company. This package contains all relevant information to present a full and complete picture of your claim. For example, a common demand package usually includes documents such as:
- The police crash report
- Photographs of the property damage
- Photographs of your injuries
- All relevant medical records and bills
- All relevant documents to support your lost wage claim
- A doctor’s opinion regarding your need for future medical care
- An expert’s opinion regarding your future lost earnings if unable to return to your previous employment
- Any other documents or witness statements reflecting your pain and suffering, inconvenience, and mental anguish
Once drafted, the demand is sent to the insurance company for review. The review process generally takes between two to four weeks to complete.
Phase 3: Negotiation
After the demand is reviewed by the insurance company, negotiation begins. The insurance company will typically make a counteroffer to the initial demand and the parties begin to work towards resolution of your claim. In straightforward cases with clear liability and damages, this phase can be relatively brief. On the other hand, in cases with complex damages or contested liability, multiple rounds of negotiation may be required. Be aware that insurance companies like to draw out this process, so if little progress is being made during negotiations, you may want to discuss moving to the next phase with your attorney.
Phase 4: Litigation
If settlement negotiations fail, the case then moves to litigation where a lawsuit is filed on behalf of the injured party against the at-fault driver. This process includes a completely separate and more complex timeline depending on the size of the case and what court it is filed in. Moving to the litigation phase and filing a lawsuit can potentially add between six to eighteen months to the case timeline, but taking your case to trial is your ultimate leverage when dealing with poor offers from the insurance company.
Why You Should be Skeptical of Fast Case Resolution Promises
If an attorney tells you they can resolve your serious injury case quickly, ask them specific questions. How can they prove your future medical treatment costs? How can they project your recovery time? How can they prove your future lost earning capacity? In many cases, a fast settlement means leaving these questions unanswered and money on the table.
At the Voelkel Law Firm, we don’t push our clients to take quick settlement offers. We make sure they understand the process and where their case stands at every phase along the way. We ensure our clients know upfront the timeline is shaped by their recovery, not our caseload.