Find out how the injury claim process works

A claim is opened with the defendant's insurance company when the defendant is known and insured. In some cases, an Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist claim may also be opened with the plaintiff's (victim's) insurance company.

Once a claim is opened, a request is usually made for the policy limits of the applicable insurance policy to know how much or how little money is available.

You will begin medical treatment for your injuries. This usually continues until you reach your maximum medical recovery - a point when you are as good as you are going to be able to get medically, or the funds available in the policy are reached. It is everyone's hope that the policy is adequate to meet the costs required by your treatment.

While you are treating, your legal team will be working on collecting information that shows the other party is liable (police reports, photos, videos, etc.) and items related to your damages - medical bills, loss of work documentation, potentially property damage information when assisting with that aspect of the case, and similar.

At the conclusion of your treatment, your attorney will make a demand of the insurance company.

There may be some back and forth at this point between your lawyer and the insurer. Once a reasonable settlement offer has been arrived at, the attorney will present the amount to the client to accept.

If a settlement amount cannot be reached, and it makes sense to do so, a lawsuit will be filed, and your attorney will switch gears - preparing your case for trial.

The litigation process is complex and meticulous. Your attorney will build upon the foundation that was laid through the pre-litigation process. Through litigation attempts will be made by opposing counsel to poke holes in the argument that has been presented, and to devalue your case. Your attorney will work to prove that the demands made were fair and justified.

When a lawsuit is filed it is not a foregone conclusion that your case will go to trial. In most cases, the case will still settle before trial would begin.

It can be very stressful. The legal system is complex, as is the insurance and health systems.

This is one of the major reasons why people choose to hire an attorney - they can carry much of the stress for you.

In many instances, negligence does not need to be proven. Often the defendant (the person who caused the accident) does not contest liability and will even take responsibility. In other instances, reasonable assumptions can be made based on the facts. or instance, If a car is stopped at a red light, and is hit from behind by another vehicle, it is reasonable to assume the driver of the car that hit the other from behind, is at fault.

In other instances, it is not clear, and potentially contested. Or liability is shared between two or more parties. In these instances, your attorney will seek out evidence to get a better picture of what happened. This could include witness testimony, photo or video evidence, or similar.

If deductions cannot be made from evidence gathered, your attorney may turn to an accident investigator or accident reconstruction expert. These specialists will look for additional data and use it to reconstruct what happened.

The length of a personal injury claim can vary widely. Though rare, a claim can resolve in a matter of days. At the other extreme, a personal injury case can span several years.

Your average case that resolves pre-litigation will likely take somewhere between 6 - 18 months.

So, what dictate how long a case will take?

For most cases, the biggest 'delay' is in waiting for your medical treatment to conclude. It is unwise to close a case until all medical costs are known, and they will not be known until treatment has concluded. So, understandably, your case will remain open through the treatment process. There are of course exceptions to this, such as when treatment is expected to extend years into the future, or the insurance policy will not be able to meet the medical costs. In cases like these, the case the insurance company may tender the policy limits, or the attorney may proceed with projected medical costs.

In other cases, resolving liens can take time and tie up disbursement. This is especially true when working with agencies like Medicare, which can be backlogged in their processing by several months.

If a case needs to go to trial, additional delays can be expected. It takes months to secure a trial date. Even after the conclusion of a trial, it is possible for there to be an appealing of the court’s decision - adding further delay.