If you were hurt in an accident caused by someone else, you may be wondering how long a personal injury lawsuit takes. The truth is that every case is different, so there is no exact timeline.
Some personal injury cases may settle in a few weeks or months, while others can take years. The timeline often depends on the facts of the case, the severity of the injuries, and whether the case settles or goes to trial. While it is hard to predict exactly how long your case will take, understanding the process can help you know what to expect.
What Are the Stages of a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
The specific timeline of a case is different for everyone. However, there are some basic steps to each case that you can expect.
Investigation and Case Preparation
Regardless of whether you want to settle outside of court or take the case to trial, investigation and prep are always going to be the first step. This may be as simple as collecting your dashcam footage, the police report, and medical records, or it may require additional work to track down witnesses or speak to expert witnesses.
An attorney may also advise you to see a certain type of specialist or undergo other evaluations to collect evidence for your case.
Filing the Claim or Lawsuit
Once you have gathered the necessary evidence, you may choose to pursue negotiations with the other party or parties. If you are finding that negotiations are not fruitful and you don’t see it moving forward, you may choose to file a lawsuit with the courts.
Once you file a complaint, the other party often has close to a month to respond, and the court will issue a Docket Control Order. The docket control order will give a list of deadlines that each side must follow, as well as an initial trial date.
However before you can go to trial, your case must go through the discovery phrase.
Discovery Phase and Evidence Exchange
The discovery process is simply when each party exchanges the relevant information. It is likely that you have already shared much of the evidence in the initial investigation. However, you may find that this process goes more in depth in the face of a trial to include depositions, which are essentially interviews taken under oath to gather evidence and information.
Negotiations and Settlement Discussions
Filing a lawsuit does not stop negotiations. In many cases, it can incentivize the other parties to take them more seriously. In most situations, the other person does not want to take the risk of a trial. They are time-consuming and costly, and they pose the risk of a higher damages award than what was requested in negotiations.
This risk often encourages the other party to be more serious in their counteroffers. Typically, you may accept a settlement offer up until the end of the trial before closing arguments.
Settlement or Trial
One of the first things that affects how long your case may take is whether it settles outside of court or goes to trial. Settling a case usually takes less time because it happens before a trial and verdict.
The final resolution will come when you either accept a settlement amount or receive a verdict at trial. The trial process can take months or years, in some cases, to complete. This is often due to a backlog in the courts or scheduling conflicts among the parties.
The Factors That Affect How Long a Personal Injury Case Will Take
Ultimately, how long your case takes depends heavily on the overall complexity of the situation. Several things will affect this.
The Severity of Your Injuries
The severity of your injuries can impact the timeline in two ways.
First, more severe injuries often mean higher value damages. This can lead the other party or insurance company to provide additional pushback regarding your injuries. This can include questioning their severity and whether the treatment you obtained was necessary or related to the accident.
Additionally, if you have more severe injuries, it is often wise to hold off on filing your claim or lawsuit until you have reached maximum medical improvement. This gives you time to gain a clearer understanding of the extent of your injuries and helps you anticipate future needs, which may be included in your damages.
How long your case takes often depends on the overall complexity of the situation.
Disputes Over Fault and Liability Cause Lawsuit Delays
Liability is another area that can cause significant delays. Sometimes you may have a very clear situation, like an accident where someone hit you while you were sitting still at a red light. Other times, it may not be so clear whether both parties were moving and in the wrong, or the other person just isn’t being honest.
It can take a significant amount of time for both parties to provide and review the necessary evidence to determine fault. If both parties played a role in the situation, it may also take time to determine how much liability each party should hold. Per the proportionate responsibility statutes in Texas, the other party can reduce their payout based on the percentage of liability you hold.
Insurance Company Cooperation or Delays
While most companies operate in good faith, sometimes your initial negotiations will face delays. This may be because your particular adjuster is slow to respond to emails and messages. However, it may also be that they continuously ask for additional and unnecessary information.
Sometimes the insurance companies will intentionally delay to pressure you into accepting a lower-than-fair settlement offer, or they may begin with these low offers, which can lead to an extended negotiation period.
Complexity of the Case and Number of Parties
Working through negotiations for two parties can be hard enough, but when you add in additional parties, it can prolong things. You must consider liability among additional parties, consider additional needs, and work around additional schedules.
While there are general timelines, no two personal injury cases are the same. Delays can happen at different stages of the process. If you have more questions about the legal process of a personal injury lawsuit, contact our El Paso personal injury lawyers for free to discuss your specific situation.
