How Long Does a Personal Injury Case Take to Resolve?

Following a Personal Injury, you’re sure to have a lot of questions. A question people often have is how long it’ll take to resolve a personal injury case. Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut answers. Some cases might be resolved in a couple of months. Other cases, however, might take several years before they’re fully resolved. Although there’s no set amount of time, there are some factors that affect the total time it takes to resolve a personal injury case. We’ll break down these factors. 

What Are the Common Factors? 

There are several common factors that affect the timeline of a personal injury case. Some of these factors might include: 

• Location: The location where your personal injury case takes place can affect its timeframe. For example, you’re more likely to have a case resolved quicker in a rural area versus in a huge city like Chicago. 
• The severity of the injuries: Some injuries are worse than others. A small fender-bender that leaves you with a broken arm can potentially be resolved in a couple of months with mostly paperwork holding up the case. A car accident that leaves a victim with traumatic brain injuries, however, might need to take a year or more to resolve. 
• Gathering evidence: Gathering evidence can take time. In some cases, all that’s really needed are some photographs, a personal testimony, and a police report. Other cases, however, require extensive medical reports, testimonies given by specialists (such as medical experts or accident reconstructionists), CCTV footage, etc. 
• Paperwork errors: Sometimes there can be mistakes in official paperwork. A typo, missing information, a misspelled name, etc., can all hold up a case. Having an attorney by your side can better eliminate these errors before they happen. 
• A judge and/or court’s availability: Sometimes a judge or court simply doesn’t have an available date for a while. 
• A question of liability: Sometimes who is liable may not always be clear-cut. In addition to insurance companies trying to argue that a defendant isn’t at fault, cases that involve a company or government entity might make a case more complex. 
• An insurance company’s involvement: When filing your initial claim, you’ll need to wait for the other party’s insurance company to either accept or deny the claim. In addition to this initial step taking time, sometimes an insurance company will use techniques to slow the overall process. This might include offering an inadequate amount, being unreachable, refusing to negotiate, etc. 

Can a Lawyer Make the Process Faster? 

Although there are some elements that might be out of an attorney’s hands, as a whole, having an attorney on your side often makes the process faster. The right personal injury attorney can help you gather the necessary evidence, including all the information you need when filing your claim, and negotiate with the insurance companies/apply legal pressure when needed. Our friends at Therman Law Offices, LTD have attorneys ready to assist. They can help with the initial process as well as mitigate any issues that might arise. 

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