CHICAGO, IL – Personal injury cases and other various lawsuits can take varying amounts of time to resolve. While some cases are settled relatively quickly, others involve more complex issues that can drag out the legal process. In these situations, cases can take years to conclude. In personal lawsuits, the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries and treatment can play an important role in the lawsuit’s duration; however, it’s important to note all civil lawsuits must similarly navigate through the legal process.
Civil litigation involves similar steps for almost all civil lawsuits, including the following:
Retaining an attorney
Plaintiffs search for and retain an experienced attorney within their jurisdiction. This is a critical step in the process because recovery is not only based on the facts of the case but also on the attorney’s skills, experience and expertise in negotiating settlements with defendants and/or insurance companies.
Investigating claims
Based on a plaintiff’s immediate consultation with skilled counsel, the lawyer will work to investigate the claim in more detail. In personal injury matters, lawyers use their own law firm’s resources to collect/do some of the following:
- Accident or incident report(s)
- Medical records
- Initial treatment records
- Available insurance coverages (bodily injury, uninsured and/or underinsured motorists coverage)
- Draft a representation letter to be sent to potential defendants
- Notice defendants and/or other parties, if required
Injured personal injury clients should take the advice of their medical providers to be beneficial to themselves personally and for the settlement value of their lawsuit.
Finishing treatment
A huge role of personal injury settlements involves the permanency of the plaintiff’s medical condition. The more severe and permanent the injury, the higher the potential award. It’s important to note that it’s unlikely that a doctor or expert would testify an injury is permanent after only a couple of weeks of treatment.
Because of this, personal injury lawyers are more inclined to wait until the plaintiff has completed treatment before making a demand. In some cases, additional treatment doesn’t add to healing their injuries in a measurable way. At this point, the patient would reach the maximum medical improvement. Whatever disability remains is therefore permanent. The time it takes to reach this determination ranges from 6 months to more than a year.
Reaching maximum medical improvement doesn’t necessarily add any time to the lawsuit’s duration, since other work is being done simultaneously with the plaintiff’s medical treatment.
Pre-suit negotiations
In some instances, particularly cases of less severe injuries, the matter can be settled “pre-suit” which means the claim is settled without having to formally file with the court. This can be an advantage to both parties for the plaintiff getting compensated in a timely manner, insurance companies avoid the legal fees that would be necessary to defend the case in court and more.
Rarely are larger cases settled pre-suit. Insurers generally want to thoroughly investigate the facts and the plaintiff (prior accidents, prior injuries, etc.) since more serious injuries mean more potential exposure. Most personal injury lawsuits with “heavy” injuries are defended in court.
Formal proceedings
If negotiating with the insurance company doesn’t yield an adequate offer, which in most cases it’s not, a complaint is filed and the formal proceedings commence. This includes a variety of steps.
After initial pleadings are filed, the discovery process begins. Discovery takes a significant amount of time and generally includes interrogatories, depositions and developing a witness list and sharing them with the defense counsel.
Interrogatories are defined as questions answered in writing under oath while depositions are questions, typically recorded and answered orally under oath. After testimony is given, the parties are better able to ascertain what issues need to be decided at trial.
Many court systems require cases to go through arbitration and/or mediation where objective parties review the same evidence that will likely be presented at trial. The hope is that by receiving an objective 3rd party assessment of the case, plaintiffs and insurers can adjust their expectations about the case’s value and negotiate from a more informed position. The hope is that a settlement is more likely under these conditions.
If settlement negotiations break down, the case is set for trial. The plaintiff and defense counsel appear at trial and wait for a judge to preside over the case. Depending on the jurisdiction and venue, the case can be recycled on the trial list for many months.
Once a judge is available and jury selection has occurred, the case is presented to the jury. This can take as little as a few days or as long as several weeks/months depending on the amount of testimony that’s provided.
The jury will give their decision on whether the plaintiff has proved the case and if so, what amount of monetary damages is appropriate under the circumstances.
If the plaintiff wins the case, the process may still drag on a bit longer for a variety of reasons. Depending on the amount awarded, the defendant has the opportunity to appeal to a higher court based on the legal issues that arose at trial.
