How Long Does a Personal Injury Lawsuit Take to Settle?

Written by Jeremy D. Earle, JD

Warrior's mission is to fight for you when you need our help, just like it’s our own family. Our team of experienced legal professionals are committed to providing high-quality content and accurate information. Should you find an error within any of our website content, please feel free to contact us to let us know.

April 22, 2023

The Time Frame for a Personal Injury Lawsuit

It’s reasonable that you want to get your injury case over with as soon as possible. You will be liable for your medical expenditures, car repairs, and other fees while you wait for a settlement. Knowing what to anticipate from your lawsuit’s schedule will help you prepare for the future. Each situation is distinct. Speak with a personal injury lawyer about your case for more than a high-level summary.

SETTLEMENT TIMES ON AVERAGE

The investigation phase and the patient’s medical treatment are the first steps of a personal injury claim. Legal enforcement, insurance companies, and law firms will investigate the collision and begin accumulating evidence of carelessness.

Meanwhile, you’ll be undergoing medical treatment and obtaining doctor’s statements. Interviewing eyewitnesses, reading police records, and acquiring pictures and video recordings of the accident may be part of the investigation process.

You will make an insurance claim once you have received medical treatment. If you are involved in an accident in Colorado, you will submit a claim with the at-fault party’s insurance carrier.

Under Colorado’s fault law, the individual or entity that caused your accident is liable for your losses. Most insurance companies require claimants to submit as quickly as possible after an accident, usually within 24 to 72 hours. You will normally have two years to launch a personal injury case if you desire to do so. However, depending on the circumstances, you may only have 180 days.

In Colorado, the insurance provider has 60 days from when it receives your claim to determine whether to accept or reject it. In certain circumstances, an insurance company may seek a lengthier investigation time than 60 days. On the other hand, personal injury insurance claims usually settle within two to three months after filing.

WHAT HAPPENS IF YOUR LAWSUIT IS TAKEN TO COURT?

Not all personal injury cases may be satisfactorily settled at the insurance stage. For fair and complete outcomes, some people must go to trial. Your case will take longer to settle if your accident lawyer decides you need to go to court against the insurance company to get a favorable conclusion. The precise timetable will be determined by how far your trial is scheduled by the judge in the future.

It will also rely on whether your lawyer and the insurance company can make a pre-trial settlement. A personal injury case might take a year or more to complete from beginning to

end. However, in locations with crowded courtrooms, getting a trial date might take considerably longer.

THINGS THAT MAY CAUSE YOUR SETTLEMENT TO BE DELAYED OR EXPEDITED

The medical timetable is the key issue that will cause your injury settlement or litigation to be delayed. Accepting an insurance payout while still getting treatment is usually not in your best interests.

Until later, you won’t know how much your total medical expenditures will be. Instead, you should hold off on accepting an insurance payment until you have reached the point of maximum medical improvement.

If you suffer an injury that needs rigorous care, your case might take many months. While it is feasible to settle sooner than your expected recovery period, you risk accepting less than your injuries warrant. You lose the ability to bargain for a larger sum after accepting a settlement.

Severe injuries and property damage might lengthen the process. Errors on your original claim, missing facts, blame conflicts, and the comparative negligence argument is all potential roadblocks in your injury case. If you want to appeal the decision of your case, you may have to wait longer for it to be resolved.

With expert help, you may be able to expedite your injury lawsuit. Hiring a lawyer to handle the paperwork and intricate legal problems for you is the best approach to ensure a smooth procedure. A lawyer will know how to handle your injury case as swiftly as feasible and for the highest potential compensation.

If you’ve been hurt in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you’ve probably got a lot of questions. Keep in mind that if you are injured in an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness, you may be entitled to compensation for your bodily and/or psychological injuries.

One of the most important questions you may have is how long it will take to achieve a settlement after the legal procedure starts. That is a question for which there is no obvious solution. A settlement might take as little as a few weeks or as long as a couple of years. It is mostly determined by the degree of difficulty of the personal injury litigation.

The severity of your injuries and the care you need after the event are the most important variables in a personal injury lawsuit. If your injuries are minimal, your case will likely be resolved swiftly.

If you find yourself in the middle of personal injury litigation, one of the first things you should do is engage an experienced lawyer. Only a highly trained attorney will be able to successfully try your case and aggressively seek legal remedy on your behalf.

In this blog post, we’ll go through the elements and considerations that go into determining how long a personal injury case takes to settle.

IN COURT, THE VICTIM MUST PROVE

In other words, the victim must show that she was not at fault and that a third party inflicted her injuries. The complainant – the injured person – must prove that the defendant had a legal duty of care to the person who was hurt in the accident.

She must also show that the defendant failed to perform a legal obligation by doing or failing to do anything that resulted in the victim suffering damages and loss.

The victim might seek a settlement or compensation.

DAMAGES INVOLVED IN A PERSONAL INJURY CLAIM

The legal procedure starts with a personal injury lawsuit filed by the aggrieved party seeking compensation. You may be entitled to financial compensation if you are hurt in an accident caused by someone else’s apparent carelessness.

You are compensated for your suffering and injuries. Damages are the term for this. If the defendant is found guilty, the plaintiff – the damaged person – is entitled to compensation.

DAMAGES AND THEIR TYPES

Compensatory damages are one of the most prevalent sorts of damages, and they are given to recompense someone for a loss, injury, or damage caused by a third party’s negligence. If there was a violation of wrong civil action in a personal injury lawsuit, damages are given.

The petitioner, or the injured person, is compensated according to the severity of the damages.

There are two types of personal injury damages: special and general damages.

In terms of general damages, the aggrieved person gets paid for his or her injurys by monetary means. The following are examples of general damages:

Physical Anxiety Emotional Anguish Disfigurement

Mental or physical disability

In this case, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the losses were caused by the injury and not by pre-existing conditions. Only then, as the victim, would you be entitled to compensation.

In the case of special damages, the victim is reimbursed for monetary losses incurred due to third-party injury. For a variety of circumstances, monetary compensation may be granted. Some of the most common explanations are as follows:

Earnings lost

Property repair or replacement Making up for lost or broken things

Paying for any additional expenses incurred as a result of the injury.

You must establish that your property was injured in an accident or unjust event caused by others to get compensation for irreplaceable assets.

The amount of damages and compensation in a personal injury lawsuit is determined.

SUFFERING AND SUFFERING

As the victim, you have the right to seek compensation for the physical pain and emotional agony you are experiencing due to the accident’s injuries.

MEDICAL TREATMENT EXPENDITURES

The victim is entitled to reimbursement for any medical expenses spent in treating injuries sustained due to the accident. The victim might also claim compensation set aside for future medical costs.

LOSS OF EARNINGS CAUSED BY DAMAGES

You may be entitled to monetary compensation for lost earning ability as a result of your accident-related injuries. Lost earnings or salaries, bonuses, commissions, and fringe benefits recoverable.

LOSS OF FUTURE EARNING POTENTIAL

If you are unable to work as a direct consequence of the accident, you may be entitled to claim to recover the value of your future earning capacity.

WRONGFUL DEATH CAUSED BY DAMAGES

Wrongful death claims may be made on behalf of your wife, parent, or kid. Anyone related to the dead by blood or marriage or who is financially reliant on him or her has the right to seek restitution.

DEFORMITY

If you have a deformity due to an accident, you may seek compensation for the markings or scars left behind.

Your lawyer will want some information from you.

The accident occurred on this day. Witnesses’ contact information

All pertinent information about your injuries, including a medical diagnosis and the sort of medical treatment you are or will receive.

If you have any insurance coverage that covers the expenses of a legal process, your attorney will need to know about them. If this is the case, your legal costs and expenditures may be greatly reduced.

Documentation demonstrating your wage loss and damages.

Insurance papers, such as health and car insurance, may cover your losses. Documents relating to any previous legal claim instances.

HOW LONG COULD A PERSONAL LAWSUIT TAKE?

As previously stated, the length of time depends on the severity of the injuries and the number of persons involved. From the time the complaint is filed to the time it is settled, a case might take up to a year. It’s also possible that it’ll be six months. Only a small percentage of personal injury lawsuits take two to three years to resolve.

DURING PERSONAL INJURY CASES, WARRIOR CAR ACCIDENT LAWYERS IS HERE TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR LEGAL NEEDS

If you’ve been in an accident with many parties, you’ll need the help of a personal injury lawyer at Warrior Car Accident Lawyers.

At Warrior Car Accident Lawyers, we have the knowledge and experience to efficiently deal with various insurance carriers at the same time and develop a case that protects your rights and interests.

We at Warrior Car Accident Lawyers will provide you with the advice, attention, and assistance you need to get the compensation you deserve. If you’ve been hurt due to someone else’s negligence, breach of duty of care, or intentional conduct, you have legal rights to seek compensation for your losses.

When you need legal services tailored to your specific circumstances, turn to the experts at Warrior Car Accident Lawyers.

Free Consultation

NO FEE UNLESS WE WIN

You May Also Like…