How Long Do Personal Injury Claims Take to Settle?

Realistically, there is no 100% accurate way to determine exactly how long a personal injury claim will take to settle in court. There are many factors involved that can either extend or shorten the time that your case takes to settle.

However, you can estimate how long your case could take to settle by considering a few relevant factors and details that may affect your claim. Before making the decision to take your personal injury claim to court, it can help to consider all of these factors in order to get a better estimate of how long your case will take to settle.

Specifics About Your Case

In some cases reaching an official settlement could take months, if not longer.  The process takes time, and it is unlikely your claim will be resolved in a week. To better gauge how long your case will likely take in court, it is helpful to compile and review all of the details and evidence involved in your claim. Think of it as a sort of injury claim checklist.

Gather and review all information pertaining to:

• The length, costs, and extent of all medical treatments you’ve undergone
• Your long term prognosis
• The benefits you received following your injury

This includes all bills, official statements, and supporting paperwork regarding your injury. As a general rule, the more complicated the paperwork in your case, the stronger your the evidence case will be. However, this also means your case will take longer than a less complicated case with fewer damages. In many personal injury claim cases, it’s better to wait that extra time and get your full compensation.

When you first begin a personal injury claim, we advise you speak with a professional personal injury attorney first to review all of these specific details and documents supporting your claim. Not only can these experts help get you the full financial compensation you deserve, but a good personal injury attorney can give you an idea of how well your case will hold up in court based on his or her own experience with similar cases.

As your personal injury attorney will likely tell you upon reviewing your case, the length of your case will be largely determined by your needs. Your case could be settled relatively quickly, giving you some of the compensation you’re eligible for, or you could let the case fully build in court, bringing you maximum compensation. For personal injury cases, quicker is not always better. It all depends on your financial needs following an injury event (such as how the injury will affect your work), and whether or not you feel waiting for the case to fully settle is worthwhile.

Factors That Change Settlement Speed

Beyond the evidence and supporting details that can affect your claim in court, there are some other factors that can come into play as your case proceeds. For instance, the evidence presented by other parties involved may change the way in which your claim is handled. Similarly, how clearly liability is established can change how your claim progresses in court, which will affect how long it will take to settle.

The best way to get both the compensation you need, and get it at the most appropriate speed, is to hire a professional to review and fight for your compensation in court. Hiring a personal injury attorney to represent you in court can be the single most beneficial step in the process.

Hiring Professional Help

Not only can professional injury attorneys help you gauge how long it will take your claim to settle in court, but also how well your case is likely to hold up before you take it court. Best of all, most experienced injury attorneys offer initial consultations for free. This will allow you to get honest answers to your questions before deciding whether to take your claim to court.

We’ve seen many cases in which injury victims were clearly right in their claim and did deserve compensation, but ultimately lost their case due to lack of direction, or poor claim support. When you consult a personal injury attorney in your area, he or she can help you decide whether pursuing your case is worth the fight, and help to estimate how long your case will likely take in court.

To get the best results with your claim, and for the most effective settlement time, try reaching out to a professional attorney first. For more information about how your injury claim will likely be handled in court, contact us right away.