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How long will my personal injury case take before a settlement is reached?

There are so many factors that go into this, and it varies so much from case to case that it is impossible to tell a client with any degree of certainty how long it will take to resolve to the case, especially at the start of the case. Any lawyer who tells the client that the case will be resolved in a certain period of time either doesn't care about what happens to the client or doesn't know what they are talking about. In either case, if you are interviewing a lawyer who promises that the case will be resolved in a certain period of time, you should find another lawyer to interview as quickly as possible.

The most important variable to determine how quickly it will take to resolve a personal injury case is how long it takes the client to recover from the injuries suffered in the accident. When a case is settled, the accident victim gives up his or her right to seek further compensation from the negligent party. Therefore, we tell clients that they do not want to consider settling a case until they are either all better or as good as they are going to get, and how long that takes is going to vary from client to client. Once the client has reached that point, we can begin to consider the possibility of settling the case, and not before.

After that, there are a number of variables which greatly affect the length of time it takes to resolve a case:

The kind of case involved Some kinds of cases such as construction accidents, medical malpractice cases, dangerous product cases, and nursing home abuse and neglect cases tend to be more complex and take longer to resolve, while other types of cases such as car accidents, slip and fall cases, and dog bite cases, tend to be less complex and can be resolved more quickly.
The insurance company involved Some insurance companies are very reasonable about settling claims; other insurers are not. To reach a settlement, both sides have to agree, and if the insurance company will not be reasonable, it will take longer for the case to be resolved.
Where the lawsuit will be filed Courts in some counties move faster than others, and even within the same county, some judges push cases ahead faster than others.
Prior claims or injuries If the accident victim had been involved in prior accident or claim, insurance companies tend to look at cases more closely, and this can result in long delays in resolving the case.

In short, there is no set time that it will take for a personal injury case to be resolved, and as experienced Chicago accident lawyers, we know that it is virtually impossible to tell a client at the outset of the case how long it will take for the case to be resolved. The only thing that we can do is live up to our commitment of handling the case right and taking the time that is needed to resolve the case properly in a way which is consistent with the goals and desires of the client.