Personal Injury Attorneys

How Long Will It Take To Recover?

We often get asked questions about how long an injured party might have to wait before they can pursue financial recovery. When you are hurt, this is a very important question, because being injured is expensive. Unfortunately, there is not an exact answer to that question because the facts of each personal injury case are unique. There are, however, some basic phases that each personal injury case passes through on its way to its eventual conclusion. If you are pursuing financial recovery for damages resulting from a personal injury, developing an understanding of how your case is likely to proceed can be helpful, even if it does not provide an exact answer about how long your case will last.

One thing that you don't have to wait on is contacting a personal injury attorney. The sooner you get an attorney involved in your personal injury case, the better.

First Phase: Recovery from Injury

The first phase of any personal injury case is recovery from your injuries. It may be very tempting to try to settle your case as you recover, because medical bills pile up quickly and it can be difficult to get by financially if you are out of work because of your injuries. Before you accept a settlement offer, remember that it is in your best interest to wait to settle your case until you have achieved maximum medical improvement, the state in which your condition cannot be improved any further. Until you have attained maximum medical improvement, the full extent of your injuries and the potential future effects of those injuries on your life is unknown. It is therefore not possible to accurately assess whether a proposed settlement will adequately compensate you for your injuries until you know the full extent of your damages.

Second Phase: Negotiations

When your attorney receives a settlement offer from the insurance company, your case enters the "negotiations" phase. During negotiations, your attorney will talk to you about the offer, and you can choose to accept it or reject it. Often, several exchanges of offers and counteroffers are needed before an offer which is acceptable to the client is obtained.

Third Phase: Litigation

If negotiations do not lead to an acceptable settlement offer, your attorney can file a personal injury lawsuit and your case will proceed to the litigation phase. Once your case is in litigation, there is still a very good chance that you will settle before trial. There is quite a bit of time between when a case is filed and when it is tried, and during that time, negotiations continue.

Pursue Just Compensation with Our Lexington Personal Injury Attorneys!

Once the attorney-client relationship has been established, your attorney can get started on collecting information from your doctors. Once you have achieved maximum medical improvement, your attorney will use the information from your treatment providers and other relevant sources to create a complete picture of your damages. Your attorney will then submit that information to the insurance company or insurance companies which represent the person or people who are responsible for your injuries. It usually takes an insurance company between four and eight weeks to review the information and extend a settlement offer to your attorney.

Your Lexington personal injury lawyer from Goeing Goeing & McQuinn PLLC wants you to obtain the recovery that you deserve. We can help you to understand what your claim is worth, and we can help you to pursue a better settlement offer through negotiation. If necessary, we can litigate your case.