Tim Paoli 
When you file a personal injury claim, it is only natural to wonder how long it takes to resolve it. However, there isn’t a single deadline to share with you. While most personal injury cases take from a few months and up to a year to settle, a complex personal injury lawsuit requires two or more years to finalize.
A personal injury case timeline is more than checking legal boxes. It is like a rollercoaster ride where your recovery, the insurer’s stubbornness, and other implications add unique twists and turns to the process. Today, we’ll dwell more on what’s going on behind the scenes so that you know what to expect.
Personal Injury Claim Length By Case Type
Although a precise timeline of a personal injury case will depend on its unique details, our experienced personal injury lawyers have outlined an average length of different types of accidents.
A certain stage of the process can take from days to years, depending on how early on it is in the case and how complicated the claim is.
|
Personal Injury Case Type |
Personal Injury Claim Duration |
Why Does It Take So Long to Settle? |
| Minor car accident | 3-6 months | Typically, such cases involve fast-healing injuries such as minor cuts, bruises, or whiplash. They provide clear liability and require minimal medical treatment. |
| Catastrophic car accident | 6 months to 2 years | Broken bones, traumatic brain injuries, and spinal cord damage may require costly surgeries and lengthy rehabilitation. Potential future expenses and long-term effects on the victim’s life require substantial reimbursements, and insurance companies try to minimize the payouts at all costs.
|
| Truck accident | 1 to 2 years | Commercial truck incidents are often complicated since they may involve various liable parties, inflict severe injuries, and fall under complex regulations. Although the timeline expands, the injured parties can recover larger settlements. |
| Motorcycle accident | 1 to 2 years | Motorcycle collisions often involve serious injuries, but insurance providers try to dispute such claims based on fault and liability. |
| Bicycle accident | 6-12 months | Biking incidents are complicated in terms of liability. It takes time and effort to gather evidence and prove liability. |
| Pedestrian accident | 6-18 months | Such accidents are often clear in terms of responsibility, and thus take less time to be resolved. Unless there are implications in the form of lasting disability or a fatal outcome. |
| Medical malpractice | 1 to 3 years | Wrongful medical treatment can have a life-altering effect on a person. However, it takes substantial evidence to prove medical malpractice. Expert opinions and detailed medical records take time to obtain. |
| Product liability | 1 to 3 years | A defective product can ruin one’s life in an instant. However, it takes time and effort to prove that the seller or manufacturer is at fault. |
| Slip-and-fall accident | 1 to 2 years | If you’ve had a slip and fall, premises injury cases take longer to resolve since you need palpable proof that indicates that the owner was knowingly negligent. |
| Dog bites | 3-6 months | Such cases don’t take long to settle if the dog owner is known and if local ordinances are clear and precise. |
| Workplace injury | 6 months to 2 years | A workplace injury can be extremely swift or take time to resolve, depending on whether a third party or the employer is held accountable for it. |
| Wrongful death | 1 to 3 years | Loss of a loved one is complicated on many levels, which is why such a personal injury claim takes time to resolve.
|
From Injury to a Fair Settlement: Personal Injury Claim Timeline
Many involved parties, especially the accident victims, hope that the settlement process will be as straightforward and speedy as possible. However, in the majority of personal injury cases, the road is bumpy and has detours.
There is an approximate roadmap to follow, but you must understand that multiple aspects, such as the injury type, liability, and even the company backlog, will affect the timeline when you choose to recover damages in personal injury cases. A typical personal injury claim process usually includes the following stages:
Report and Record Your Injuries
The fact that you’ve been harmed in an accident does not carry enough weight when it comes to confirming the sustained damages. You must seek timely medical care not only to ensure maximum medical improvement but also to initiate a detailed track record of all medical bills and conditions you have to deal with as a result of the incident.
Gather and Organize Evidence
It is not enough to take detailed photos and videos of your traumas and the accident scene. You need to preserve and organize every bit of information, including but not limited to doctor’s appointments, missed days of work, repair receipts, witness statements, and medical expenses.
Also, if you’ve suffered an injury that limits your daily activities or causes constant pain, you should keep a precise log of how you feel on a regular basis. The same goes for any prescribed meds that can affect your mental state while tending to the physical effects of the trauma. The more complete and organized the proof, the stronger the personal injury claim.
Team Up with an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney
Some injured victims neglect their right to professional legal representation in fear of the high personal injury lawyer cost. However, many law firms, including Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers, offer free consultations. An expert case evaluation will clarify where you stand with your personal injury claim and which steps would be the most favorable at the moment. Moreover, our team works on a contingency fee basis, which ensures that our clients pay a fixed percentage of the secured settlement after the process is over. It is in your best interests to contact a seasoned legal field advisor early on in the case.
Notify the Insurance Providers
Another checkbox on your legal to-do list is to notify the insurance carriers about the accident. Whether it’s your insurer, the at-fault party’s provider, or a third-party insurance company, any delay in reporting the incident may be viewed as a red flag and used against you. Besides, in most states of the USA, a personal injury case is regulated by a state-approved statute of limitations. Filing the settlement request outside the outlined timeframe may bar you from receiving any compensation, no matter the sustained economic and non-economic damages. You should always remember that the clock starts ticking from the minute of the accident.
Talk Fair Settlement Numbers
Almost every personal injury process includes the initial compensation demand and a few rounds of counteroffers. The insurance adjuster will always aim low while you negotiate the fair. Insurance providers will try to dispute the relevance of the provided evidence, settlement calculations, or even the injuries that an accident victim suffered, to minimize the final payouts. A trained legal representative, in their turn, will apply polished legal strategies, skillful persuasion, and potentially unacknowledged proof to negotiate the rightful reimbursement of your losses. Most personal injury cases are resolved during this stage, but you shouldn’t accept a lowball offer if the insurer is unwilling to budge. The best choice would be to move on to the next stage.
Take It to Court: File a Personal Injury Lawsuit
An important point to note is that taking the case to court does not mean that you are filing a personal injury lawsuit against the uncooperative insurance provider. A lawsuit is aimed directly at the defendant.
When you submit the paperwork, you must explain in detail why you are filing this complaint. A claimant has to explain why they deserve the compensation they are requesting, and hearsay does not go well at court. That is why you are about to provide enough valid evidence supporting your right to compensation. As with an insurance claim, a personal injury lawsuit should be filed in a timely and orderly manner.
Get a Free Case Evaluation
Discovery, Mediation, and Trial
Both parties, the plaintiff and the defendant, or their legal advisors, now enter the discovery phase. During the discovery period, the parties exchange information, evidence, and depositions that help them form or strengthen their arguments.
In some personal injury cases, the court advises the parties to participate in a mediation process. The sole aim of which is to settle the case without taking it to trial. Court-assigned mediators listen to both sides’ arguments and share their non-binding opinions of how the request should be settled. However, the mediators do not enforce their decisions on either party.
If either party does not agree with the mediator’s advice, they go to trial and await the jury’s verdict.
Receive the Final Verdict
The jury or the judge will listen to the involved parties present gathered evidence and arguments, which potentially speak in their favor. Based on the provided information, the judge or the jury will come up with a final ruling, which must always be unanimous.
The final verdict does not always mean the end of the personal injury case. In case it is favorable, the claimant proceeds to collect the assigned compensation. However, if the plaintiff disagrees with the ruling, they have the right to file an appeal and have another trial scheduled.
Collect the Settlement
Each verdict is different, but primarily the legal compensation covers your monetary as well as non-monetary losses, such as pain and suffering. In some cases, when the defendant was ruled to be extremely negligent or intentional in causing harm to others, the court may award punitive damages on top of the requested compensatory damages.
What Can Slow Down or Speed Up Your Personal Injury Lawsuit?
We’ve established that while some personal injury cases settle in a matter of months, others can take years to resolve. While every claim is unique, there are a few factors that have a direct impact on the timeline as well as the amount of an average personal injury settlement a victim can recover. These include the following:
- Claim type: A commercial truck accident that inflicts catastrophic injuries will take longer to handle than an average car crash that leaves the victim with minor scrapes and bruises.
- Number of parties: The more people involved in an incident, the longer the settlement timeline. Each party’s insurer will take time to investigate the claim, cross-examine the provided evidence, and coordinate, which affects the durability of the process.
- Liability share: Some accidents, like rear-end collisions, for instance, are quite clear in terms of who’s at fault. This means that they will take less time to resolve. However, suppose both parties claim innocence, since both allegedly ran the green light. In that case, the investigation will take place to establish full or partial responsibility, and it will consequently expand the timeframe.
- Evidence validity: In cases where there’s undeniable proof, such as surveillance footage, available, these cases are resolved without delays. At the same time, in claims where there is no palpable evidence, plus both parties argue liability, the process can go on for months until one party takes the upper hand.
- Insurer’s cooperation: Insurance companies are rarely willing to part with their assets, no matter the severity of the damages suffered by the victim. They will try to dismiss, dispute, and stall the process to minimize the payouts.
- Negotiations vs. litigation: A personal injury case can be resolved through pretrial negotiations, which is usually a faster route. Yet, a claim can turn into a personal injury lawsuit due to a lack of understanding and cooperation of either party, which is usually a lengthy detour.
Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney to Get a Fair Settlement!
Multiple factors can affect a personal injury settlement timeline and delay justice as we speak. However, a trained legal advisor has a keen eye for challenges, pitfalls, and implications that can compromise the compensation you deserve. All it takes is to contact Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers for a free case consultation, and our lawyers will side with you on the path to a fair recovery! Call us today and take the first step to the settlement that is rightfully yours!
FAQ
Can I Speed Up My Personal Injury Settlement Process?
Your timely and well-thought-out actions can speed up the settlement process. Don’t postpone reporting the accident, gather every piece of evidence you can lay your hands on, and consult a professional attorney to avoid delays and enhance the final settlement.
How Can a Personal Injury Lawyer Help Me Boost the Settlement Process?
On top of their legal field expertise, committed lawyers are aware of all the deadlines that can compromise the case. Moreover, they know how to negotiate and convince insurers. Additionally, they can advise you on when it is worthwhile to accept the settlement offer and when it is better to push for more.
What Factors Can Slow Down a Personal Injury Settlement Process?
Many factors can have a stalling effect on the settlement timeline. Among the most common ones, it is worth naming shared liability, lack of evidence, multiple parties involved, unrealistic settlement requests, and self-representation in exceptionally complicated cases.
