The thing to keep in mind about a personal injury case is that it can be quite long, especially if it becomes a lawsuit. The reality is that these lawsuits are long and quite expensive, too. So it certainly makes a lot of sense to figure things out, and then narrow down what’s important here. Doing that is crucial, so now the question is, what is the average timeline for a personal injury lawsuit.
Medical treatment and recovery
It’s a stage that will of course vary based on the injuries and other things. It can be anywhere from a few weeks for light injuries to months in the case of more serious injuries. You have to go to the doctor, handle physical therapy, receive diagnostic testing, undergo surgery and so on. Here you have a timeline that varies quite a lot, because every injury is going to be quite different.
Investigation and evidence collection
This is a process that will also take some time. That’s because it involves getting a lot of different documents, from medical records to accident reports, witness statements, photos, surveillance footage, employment records, insurance information or expert evaluations. Additional investigation might be necessary as well. But the idea is, the stronger the evidence, the stronger the claim in the end, so you certainly want to address that wisely.
Filing the insurance claim
Even filing the claim is going to take a little because it has to include all the necessary information. Plus, there is also the review process, the insurance company will also do their own investigation, evaluate liability and then respond with questions or a settlement offer. During this phase you can have different rounds of communication before you reach any type of agreement.
Settlement negotiations
It’s important to have these settlement negotiations, because trials can be very expensive and long. It just makes sense to go through the settlement process. These discussions involve evidence reviews, negotiating any future damages, assessing suffering and pain, calculating the lost income, negotiating further damage and so on. If the negotiations are a success, then the case will end without having to go to court.
Filing the lawsuit
When you file the lawsuit, that begins the court process. The defendant is served with legal documents and the response can be to admit facts, deny liability, raise legal defenses and so on. It’s important to have a Hawaii personal injury attorney by your side during this process, just to make sure that everything is done in a proper manner.
Discovery
Discovery is the longest stage of the lawsuit, where there are written questions, requests for documents, depositions and so on. After discovery, you have a process called mediation. A third party will try to help you find a common ground and facilitate the negotiations, which can be a tad challenging in these cases. Both sides will try to come to an agreement. If not, you go to the next step.
Trial
During the trial, attorneys are presenting evidence, the witnesses testify, experts explain the technical issues, both sides are making legal arguments and either a jury or the judge will determine the outcome. A trial can last anywhere from a single day to a few weeks or even way more than that. It always depends on the complexity of the case and the situation at hand. Understanding that is important, and it’s certainly something you have to consider here.
What factors can affect the timeline?
That’s the thing, a personal injury case timeline is always going to be affected by a lot of different things. Let’s say the case can end up taking half a year to a year. But it can take way more, if there are very severe injuries, liability disputes and multiple defendants. The same thing can be said when it comes to the insurance company cooperation or the court schedules. And of course, there are also expert witnesses you need to take into account.
However, the important thing about all of this is to understand that you can still settle at any given time. Most of the time, settlements can be agreed upon before the trial, but even during the trial there were cases where people chose to settle. So it is something you can do, and at the end of the day it’s an important part of the process. Just make sure that you understand settling could be an option.
Conclusion
These personal injury cases will always have their fair share of challenges and they can get very demanding. But the important thing is to have a legal representative by your side that can help guide through everything. This is not a walk in the park, and there are natural issues that could potentially arise. Hence the reason why it’s recommended to know the average timeline, as it will give you at least some starting point.
