In general, when accepting an offer of compensation for personal injury, the process requires your attorney to request payment within 14 days. There is no legal requirement for the other party to pay within this time frame. As a result, in our experience, out-of-court settlement payments can take 14 to 28 days. Therefore, in a simple statement of these characteristics, the ideal would be for the case to be resolved within 4 to 9 months.
However, some cases are expected to emerge from this simplified process due to problems of complexity or liability, which may extend the time needed to reach an agreement. The time it takes for a case to be resolved can vary significantly, simple cases in which liability is admitted can be resolved in about 12 months. Larger, more complex, and higher-value cases may take longer to resolve. It is important that you do not rush to come to an agreement and that your living requirements are fully taken into account, no matter how long they take to settle down.
In all appropriate cases, we will request interim payments on account of your final damages (compensation) so that you have funds available while your claim is being processed. Calculating how long it will take for a personal injury compensation claim to be resolved is very difficult, as each incident is naturally different. However, depending on the type of injuries suffered, it may be necessary to obtain more than one report or for the claimant to undergo treatment such as physical therapy before a medical expert can make a final opinion on the effect of the injuries suffered. To calculate how much your claim for your pain and suffering (also called “general damages”) may be worth, your lawyer will use the report prepared by the medical expert to compare your injuries with those of plaintiffs in previously resolved cases (called case law), who have suffered injuries similar to yours and who have taken a similar amount of time to recover.
While each claim is unique, the general settlement deadlines set out below can be used as a rough guide for each type of personal injury claim. As with many aspects of a personal injury or medical malpractice lawsuit, the time it takes to reach a settlement depends on several different things. So, imagine that you filed a personal injury compensation claim before you fully recovered, then received full and final payment from the other party, and then your injury turned into something much worse that required or deserved a higher settlement. Your opponent (the person or company you are complaining against) may also want to appoint their own medical experts of the same experience to give their opinion on your injuries.
