Ask a Personal Injury Lawyer: How Long Does an Injury Settlement Take to Pay Out?

You may have heard that legal cases often take years to pay out. This isn’t always true. No personal injury lawyer can give you an exact timeframe of how long it will take for your case to conclude, but speaking to your lawyer will help you understand why your case may take several months to come to a close. Let’s look at how long a typical personal injury case takes to settle.

How Long on Average Does a Personal Injury Case Take to Settle?

Most simple personal injury cases can settle in less than a year. However, it depends on the severity of the case. If you slipped and fell and it was caught on camera, then your case probably won’t take too long to settle. If you were involved in a multi-driver car crash, then your case may take even longer than a year to come to a close.

Because of the uniqueness of different people’s cases, there’s no exact average of how long a personal injury case lasts from start to finish. Speaking to your personal injury lawyer in Houston, TX can help you get an idea of how long cases similar to yours took to settle.

What’s the Shortest Time z Case Could Settle in?

Some people who’ve filed personal injury lawsuits have disclosed that their cases took around two months to settle. This is definitely the lower end of the timeframe. This usually happens in simple cases where the person liable for your injury accepts liability and their insurance company doesn’t try to lowball you or get you to lower your claim.

In these simpler cases, it’s mainly the legal processes that take up the most time. You could end up receiving your first check only two months after beginning your lawsuit.

Can My Personal Injury Lawyer Speed Up the Process of Settling?

Cases will always settle faster if you work with a personal injury attorney. You’ll also end up with a larger settlement when you work with a lawyer. However, in most cases, there’s nothing your attorney can explicitly do to speed the process along. Several factors come into play that can drag out your case.

What Can Influence How Long a Personal Injury Lawsuit Takes to Settle?

1. The Extent of Your Injuries

You can be fully compensated for your medical costs after your injury. You can also be compensated for any future medical costs; for example, if you’re going to need physical therapy for years to come, or if you’ll need to be on pain medication for the rest of your life, then you can be compensated for these things.

It’ll take some time for your doctors to determine how long your treatment is going to last and cos. Therefore, it may take several months before you know how much you can win in medical compensation.

2. The Case’s Complexity

As stated earlier, simpler cases can settle faster than more complex ones. More complex cases require more investigation, and there will be more sides to the same story. Each side of the story must be considered, and this will take some time. Rest assured that with careful investigation, your attorney can prove that another party was liable for your injuries. It may simply take a little longer to do so when there are lots of people involved.

3. The Liable Party or Their Insurance Company

Sometimes people simply won’t want to accept liability for your injury. The liable party or their insurance company may argue that you were liable or partially liable, and they may try to skirt responsibility by making excuses and false claims. If the other party tries to deny liability, then your attorney will have to conduct a more thorough investigation to fully prove how that party was responsible.

You don’t want your attorney to rush this process. If they rush, then they might not collect enough evidence to win you the large settlement you might be entitled to.

4. The Negotiations

Most insurance companies want to pay out the lowest sum they can. Therefore, negotiations with the liable party’s insurance company can go on for weeks or even months. If they refuse to settle, then you may even have to go to court. Having to go to trial can make the case drag on for even longer. Unfortunately, you just have to let the negotiations run their course if you want the best chance of getting a high settlement.

Although most personal injury cases settle in less than a year, some factors can make them go on for longer. You really can’t control how long your case is going to take, and even the most practiced lawyers can’t say with certainty how long it will be before your case settles. Having patience is key when dealing with legal matters, and keep in mind that your attorney wants to be as thorough as they can.