How Long Does It Take To Resolve A Personal Injury Case?
Personal injury cases are tricky to handle. No law practitioner can precisely predict the time it takes to resolve a personal injury case. It wholly depends on the nature of the case and the time it takes to get everything in order. Here are a few things that’ll enable you to estimate the time it’d take to resolve a case.
Phase One: Medical Affairs
The first and foremost concern in case of a personal injury is to get the patient medically fit. Until a time that the patient has recovered completely from his/her injuries, or has attained the maximum medical improvement possible in the aftermath of the accident, the extent of damage cannot be fully analyzed. It takes thorough examination to quantify the current and projected losses due to physical injuries, before you can resolve a case.
Phase Two: Documentation
In order to make a strong case in front of the insurance company, all relevant documents need to be collected. This would include medical records, employment records, property damage analysis and other supporting materials. Depending on how the institutions work, this phase may stretch over several months.
Phase Three: Situational Analysis
This involves investigating the cause of accident, estimating the extent of previous and augmented damage, collecting witnesses and scientific proof of damage, and other similar situational analysis that support the claim. It is not easy to quantify damage in such cases, especially those that do not manifest apparently.
Phase Four: Negotiations
This phase involves negotiations with the insurance company based on the information collected and analyzed. It might take considerable time to reach an agreement because the adjusters are adamant and trained not to accept the victim claims easily.
Phase Five: Reimbursement
Finally, once a deal has been reached, it might take some time for the reimbursement to be released. This depends on how quickly adjustments with medical and legal authorities can be reached, to resolve a case.
