What can you Expect with a Personal Injury Claim?

What can you expect with a personal injury claim and how long is this going to take? The first thing we’re going to do is we are going to set up all the insurance claims with every insurance coverage which could apply for your particular case. We are going to call, talk to the insurance company, and prepare them for what is to come, but we are not going to talk any settlement at that point.

First, getting medical treatment for your personal injury.

• The next thing that’s going to happen is you are going to continue to get your medical treatment. 
• We are going to call and check in with you about every two to three weeks and see how you are feeling. In these calls we will ask what the doctors are telling you, and see how the treatment is progressing.
• We are going to take really good notes in our system of what’s going on, and we are going to keep the insurance company up to date. We will not talk any settlement until you totally get released because once we settle, we cannot go back. And so we will only start settlement talks after the treatment is complete.
• Once you tell us that you are completely done with your medical treatment, we will get copies of your medical records. Unfortunately, that can be a slow process. It usually takes about 30 to 60 days to get your medical records. 

Next, our law firm will put together a demand package.

• We will first get all of your medical records and save them here at the office. Once we have the records, we do a full review and comb through every detail, and we put together a demand package.
• A demand package is about a seven to eight page letter that talks about you, your accident, the case, and how the injury affected you.
• Then what we do is we sent that off to the insurance company after you and I have had a discussion about the value of the case.
• Once we’ve had that discussion and we send the demand. Then the insurance company legally has 30 days to respond to our first offer.

Finally, response to the demand letter.

• Once we get their response, we have another discussion, about the offer and value your case.  Then, we do about a month of negotiation. Sometimes it can take longer, sometimes it can take less time.
• In most cases, at that point, we can come to a resolution or a settlement of the case. But for some cases, we have to file a lawsuit because there is a dispute or liability or we just can’t come to an agreement on the value of the numbers.
• In those cases, a lawsuit can take substantially more time, generally up to two to three years. We discuss that in another video. But for most cases, our firm is able to settle before we ever file a lawsuit. 

How long a case going to take depends on how long it takes you to feel better. For some of our clients, this could take three to four months, but for other clients, it could three years. It just depends on how long it takes the doctor to release you from the care from that date. If I can ever answer any questions about your specific case, please do not hesitate to give us a call.