Video Transcript
"How long is it going to take for me to settle my personal injury case?" For almost every client that comes in, that’s one of the first questions they want to know. It’s an understandable question. They have a lot of stress going on in their lives—probably not working, money’s not coming in, but bills are certainly coming in. They are starting to think about future medical costs. "How am I going to survive this? When am I going to get my money?" Unfortunately, as we explain at Kirshenbaum & Kirshenbaum, certainly day one is not a day we can ever answer that question. But here, I’m going to give you some guidelines that we give our clients as to what goes into that determination.
One of the initial ones is: you've got liability and you've got damages. Liability—if there is a dispute as to who caused this crash, that is certainly going to delay the enablement of the settlement. If it’s a rear-end crash and they are one hundred percent at fault, that is certainly a factor that moves toward a faster settlement.
The bigger, much more complicated factor is your damages. What are your injuries? How long is your treatment? None of those questions can be answered on day one. But at a minimum, we tell our clients we cannot even begin to think about settling your case until you are done treating. You have to make sure you follow all of your doctors’ advice. That means possibly going to therapy, maybe having injections, and God forbid, it may involve surgery. And then after surgery, there could be therapy. Sometimes, cases can go on for as little as a couple months. Sometimes, cases can go on for a number of years before they’re done treating.
One other factor: who’s the insurance companty that’s representing the party that hurt you? Every insurance company has their own reputation. Some are easier to work with than others.
Here at Kirshenbaum & Kirshenbaum, we can explain all of this to you, every step of the way. We continually update you on what the status of your case is as we get closer to being able to settle.
If you’re injured, don’t hesitate. Call Kirshenbaum & Kirshenbaum and let us be your lawyers for life.
