Whether you were hurt on the job, in a car accident, or another way due to someone else’s actions, legal processes can be lengthy and feel drawn out. This is why the question our clients ask us most often is, “when will this be over with?” No two personal injury cases are exactly the same, so there are a few potential answers to this age-old question. Let’s dive in, shall we?

The Legal Process
Generally, all types of personal injury cases have similar steps toward achieving a settlement or a lawsuit.

  • The very first thing you should do after getting hurt is seek medical treatment. This is important for your health, and your claim. Delaying seeing a doctor will cause an insurance adjuster and the jury to assume that your injuries aren’t as serious as they really are. If you were injured in the workplace, report the incident to your boss right away. If you were hurt in a car accident, call the police.
  • Once you’ve received medical attention and reported your injury, call a personal injury attorney. Be sure to fill them in on every detail of the accident, no matter how small.
  • After speaking with your lawyer, he or she will gather every available scrap of evidence to support your claim. This can include medical records, prescriptions, medical bills, pictures, witness statements, and receipts for bills paid. If you want to help your attorney speed up this process, be sure to bring any documentation you already have in your possession, take pictures of your injuries and any relevant damages, and ask for contact information from witnesses.
  • In most cases, the amount of compensation owed to you cannot be fully determined until you’ve reached something called MMI, or Maximum Medical Improvement. Your MMI is essentially when you’ve recovered from your injuries as much as medically possible. If you are unable to return to the same level of physical health you had prior to the accident, you will likely be entitled to receive disability benefits.
  • Next comes the negotiation process. Your attorney will almost always try to reach a settlement with the other party outside of court to save time.
    • If a settlement is reached that you are happy with and covers all of your compensation needs, the case will end there.
    • If the other party puts up a fight and refuses to compensate you, your lawyer will move to file a lawsuit. This sometimes happens with employers in workers’ compensation In Missouri, the average amount of time for a lawsuit to reach completion is between six and twelve months. However, this may vary depending on what kind of personal injury case you have.
  • Next, it will be determined whether or not your case will go to trial. Thankfully, the majority of cases are settled outside of court. A personal injury trial can take anywhere between a few days and a few weeks.

Why the Wait?
There are plenty of factors outside of your attorney’s control that affect how long you’ll be on the road to compensation.

  • Acquiring medical documents to use as evidence can take time.
  • Sometimes witnesses and medical professionals take longer than preferred to respond.
  • When it comes to trials, it is up to the jury to make a decision- and they all have to agree.
  • While negotiating settlements between parties, offers need to be discussed and deliberated on before they are accepted or denied.
  • In personal injury cases concerning car accidents, sometimes there is more than one liable
  • The discovery process, which is when each party’s lawyer investigates their opposition’s case during a lawsuit, enables everyone involved to be informed of all facts pertaining to your case. This process generally consists of interviews, asking for relevant documents, and taking depositions of witnesses under oath. In Missouri, this process generally takes between six months and a year, depending on how complicated the case is.
  • Going back and forth with insurance agencies can be time-consuming, because they want to get away with covering as little as possible, which our firm simply cannot tolerate. We handle communicating with insurance companies so you don’t have to deal with the hassle. The only thing you should be concerned with during your personal injury case is recovering.

Our expert personal injury lawyers do not stop fighting until we win the compensation that our clients rightly deserve, no matter how long it takes. We do not tolerate injustice, and neither should you! Help us help you by calling 573-443-4500 to schedule your free consultation today.