One of the leading causes of deaths and injuries in the United States is car accidents. The rules regarding how car accident aftermaths are addressed are different from state to state. In the state of California, drivers who are responsible for accidents are liable for any damages which result from the accident. They are eligible to recover compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering and more. If you have been injured in a car accident which was the fault of someone else, it’s completely normal for you to worry regarding how long car accident settlements can take and how long it will take you to recover compensation from an insurance company.
Factors Which Can Make Personal Injury Claims Take Longer To Resolve
If you or your personal injury lawyer has managed to successfully prove that your accident was the fault of another driver, you’re probably wondering how long it will take for the settlement process to complete and for you to recover financial compensation for your injuries. In California, all drivers must possess car insurance, so the process of recovering compensation for your damages will probably involve a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Filing auto insurance claims can be a lot more complex and difficult than you think, though, and you’ll probably face numerous challenges along the way.
Some issues which might come up and extend the amount of time that’s required for you to receive a settlement include:
The Insurance Company Disputing Fault
Your personal injury attorney might require time to collect any and all evidence necessary to convincingly prove that another driver was at fault for the crash. This might involve witness statements as well as footage from traffic cameras.
Issues During The Insurance Claim Process
The process of filing insurance claims can be extremely frustrating. This is especially so when insurance companies refuse to handle claims in good faith, which is common. Your car accident lawyer can take over your insurance claim for you and force insurance adjusters to act in good faith.
Determining All Losses Which Are Claimable
California law allows car accident victims to seek complete repayment of all economic losses caused by at-fault drivers. The thing is, all damages will not immediately be calculable. Your lawyer may require time to deal with your medical providers in order to figure out how much treatment you’ll need and perform a calculation as to how much lost wages you’ll incur in the future if you’re unable to work.
Comparative Negligence
Comparative negligence applies in California. This means you can still recover compensation in your personal injury case even if you’re partially at fault for your accident. The way this works is this: if you are deemed 20 percent at fault for an accident, the compensation you’re eligible for is simply reduced by 20 percent. Figuring out how much each party is at fault for an accident is typically up to a judge. Thus, litigation in contested accident cases will increase how long it takes for compensation to be recovered by a lot.
Hiring An Attorney Can Make Things Go More Quickly
Every car accident claim is different. Each victim faces numerous legal challenges while they seek compensation and accountability for their injuries. Having experienced accident lawyers like Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers by your side can make the process of recovering a personal injury settlement go by much more quickly, but if your personal injury claim involves damages not covered by insurance, the process will take a lot longer. The more quickly you consult with experienced attorneys like Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers, the more likely it is that you’re able to recover compensation as quickly as possible.
Maximum Medical Improvement
Another factor which impacts how long it will take to receive a settlement in a car accident case is the time involved in terms of reaching maximum medical improvement (MMI).
Patience is important in terms of settling car accident cases. It is common for insurance companies to provide very small settlement offers immediately after injuries occur. They know very well that a lot of people will be impatient to resolve their claim and not have lawyers involved. However, if you wait until you’re aware of the real extent and nature of all of your injuries, and you wait until you have reached maximum medical improvement, you will likely receive a far larger settlement than if you accepted your initial offer.
What Is Maximum Medical Improvement?
If you have reached MMI, it means your injuries have improved as much as doctors think they will ever improve. When it comes to minor injuries, this typically involves complete recovery, meaning you won’t experience problems with these injuries in the future or need future medical treatment. However, for more severe injuries, MMI might represent the point in time when your physical limitations and physical pain have stabilized, but you may have permanent injuries. Your medical providers can make educated guesses as to how much ongoing care you’ll need, but they might not be able to predict what will happen years in the future.
Your medical providers will decide when you reach MMI, basing their decision on test results and physical examinations. It may sometimes require a second opinion to determine if you’ve truly reached MMI.
Why It’s Important To Wait To Reach MMI
The act of accepting a car accident settlement releases at-fault parties from future liability for any of your losses. You can’t ask for more compensation later on if it turns out your injuries were worse than you assumed. This makes it a gamble to settle before reaching MMI. However, it is sometimes the best decision to settle early on. An experienced lawyer who has been working in personal injury law for a long time, like the lawyers at Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers, who have been handling personal injury cases since 1990, can judge for you the best time to accept a settlement, and this is important in terms of maximizing the compensation you are able to recover.
Medical providers can give you a general timeframe regarding your emotional and physical recovery from your injuries, but every case is unique. What initially appear to be simple problems might end up being more complex, serious problems. As an example, some people who end up with concussions end up suffering from post-concussion syndrome. They end up suffering from cognitive deficits, dizziness and headaches for as long as years after their concussion. In addition, sometimes fractured bones won’t heal right and require surgery or repair.
Lien Negotiations
Lien negotiations are another factor which can impact how long it takes you to receive your settlement check after you’ve been injured in a car accident.
One of the primary advantages to hiring personal injury attorneys like Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers to handle your car accident claim is that we can get you to doctors who will treat your injuries on a lien. This means that the doctors will not charge you any medical expenses until your case is over. Doctors are willing to do this for us when we handle your car accident lawsuit because they know that we get great results for our clients.
However, once your lawyer reaches a settlement with the insurance company, they must negotiate with your medical providers before you receive your settlement check. This negotiation allows you to keep as much of your settlement check as possible.
The number one goal of any injury settlement is to make sure you have enough funds to pay for medical bills without you having to spend any money from your savings.
However, since the goal of a settlement is to allow you to pay your medical bills, there’s often not a lot of room for leftover compensation for you to receive in your check at the end of your injury case.
Fortunately, in California, your lawyer is allowed to negotiate the amount of money you owe to your doctors so you can walk away with as much settlement funds as possible once your case ends.
So, your lawyer can negotiate with your doctors to reduce the amount of money you owe them for having your injuries treated.
Your lawyer will try to save you as much money as possible and make sure you pay as little as possible for your medical treatment.
However, the process of negotiating your medical bills takes time, meaning the process will delay you receiving your settlement check. Just because your lawyer can negotiate liens with doctors doesn’t mean doctors are obligated to lower your medical bills.
Doctors are trying to make money too, so when they think the requested bill reduction is too much, they will often send counteroffers which favor them more.
Negotiations which go back and forth can delay the receipt of your settlement check while your lawyer works hard to achieve the best resolution for you.
Insurance Companies Will Try To Delay Things
Another reason your case can take a long time is because the insurance company will try to delay things and avoid paying you what you deserve. After we end up submitting a demand letter to an insurance company, they will likely try to delay things by doing numerous things, such as:
Demanding Proof Of Your Damages
The insurance company will likely demand proof of your damages, or any documents we’ve gathered to determine how much money to demand of them – this is usually the first thing they do to delay paying you.
Insisting You’re Asking For Too Much Money
Insurance companies don’t want to pay you what you deserve, so they will do their best to reduce what they owe you. Don’t worry – Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers have been dealing with this tactic for over 30 years and know how to handle it.
Questioning Liability
Insurers will often claim they’re not liable for your injuries, or that they’re liable for less than you’re asking for. They’ll claim your symptoms are due to a pre-existing injury, that you’re partially at fault for your injuries, or that your accident was someone else’s fault other than their insured.
Call Us Today For A Free Consultation
Insurance companies will do their best to reduce your compensation. With Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers by your side, you can feel confident you’ll receive the largest settlement possible, and we won’t charge you any legal fees until and unless we recover compensation for you. Call us today for a free case evaluation if you or a loved one was injured in a car accident.
Jeffrey Nadrich
Jeffrey Nadrich is a nationally-recognized California plaintiff’s personal injury attorney. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law. He has successfully represented thousands of injury clients over the last 40 years.
