Short Answer: It depends on the liability, damages, and available insurance. On average a soft tissue or MRI case takes about six to nine months. Surgery and more serious injury cases take longer to settle because the medical treatment is more robust. Those cases often settle for larger amounts, but it takes longer.
A prospective client of mine emailed me a few months back asking: Do you think the insurance company will settle with me before I go get treatment? Kentucky has a threshold for bodily injury claims. This means you must have a permanent injury or at a minimum $1,000.00 in medical expenses. Additionally, Insurance Companies are not your friend. They will actively try to screw you over. So the answer to the question is no, you will not get a big settlement without sufficient documentation of injury.
If a case is contested or goes to litigation it takes on average a couple years to resolve. This can be frustrating, but sometimes the other side gives you no other option than litigation. Keep in mind that your personal injury lawyer gets paid when the case resolves. We don’t have an incentive to draw things out unnecessarily. We do have an interest in making sure our client gets top dollar (depending on the law firm and the lawyer handling the case, but that is a whole different post). Here are some factors in the timeline:
#1: Medical Treatment Controls.
I practice personal injury law. The most important part of that is injury. If hurt you need an injury lawyer. If not hurt you are wasting time pursuing a case and no lawyer can help you. The way we prove injury is via medical treatment and appropriate documentation. Not that you would, but if you tell your medical providers it is all sunshine, roses, and unicorns there probably isn’t much I can do. It is appropriate to tell the providers what is wrong and how much it sucks so they can treat you and document. I then get those bills and records and argue with the at fault insurance about the value of the case.
It rarely makes sense to resolve a case with ongoing medical care. It makes more sense to see the extent of damages at the end of treatment. For example, pretend you get four weeks worth of conservative care and want to resolve the case. Your lawyer gets the bills and records from the treatment and gets a settlement. Your treatment is still ongoing. Doctors reach a point where you aren’t getting any better and recommend a surgery. By settling fast you probably bypassed tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Good things happen to those that wait. Impatience in my line of work results in fast which usually means cheap. It is wise to get the treatment you need and then work from there.
Liability needs to be in your favor.
How long your personal injury case takes to settle depends on the facts. A rear end collision is more likely to resolve than a T-Bone where all sides are saying the other party is at fault. In the latter scenario the insurance company for the other driver is likely to back their position and deny your claim. This means your lawyer must file a lawsuit to get any traction. Lawsuits are not fast. Defense lawyers make money by billing by the hours and judges have very busy dockets. That said, sometimes the only option is to file a lawsuit.
If the other side eats liability your claim will move faster. My favorite is when the other driver admits to fault and tells their insurance company to make this go away. Less fighting from the other side will move the claim. Alternatively, if the other driver thinks you are at fault (or is lying) it will take time to sort out.
Insurance is Important.
No insurance means no case – unless you get hit by someone that is very wealthy and lacks insurance). It is important your lawyer find out quick if the other side has insurance. How long it takes your case to resolve could be very quick if there is no insurance. It also might be a scenario where you get hit by someone with not enough insurance or an insurance company that is known to play games.
Each case is fact specific and a lawyer can give you a general outline of how long something will take by speaking to you about that particular case. The information above is just a guideline. I have handled many, many personal injury claims. Enough that experience can tell me how long something will likely take. Good news is that consultations at Dettman Law are always free and I work on all sorts of personal injury cases. For a free consultation email me at bdettman@dettmanlawgroup.com
