A common question I receive from clients is, “How long will it take for me to get a settlement?”
If your injuries are minor, it can take just a few months to get your case settled. Insurance companies particularly require proof of your claim. We have to obtain medical records, employment records, expertreports, and those have to be synthesized and sent to the insurance company with the demand and that process can take many months even for minor injuries to resolve.
On the other hand, if yourinjuries are more serious or even life-threatening, they can take much longer: a year or two is not uncommon.
If you settle your case too early, even a minor injury case, and you find out that you should not have settled it because there were other parts of yourinjury that you didn’t know about, then you are foreclosed forever from pursuing any additional amounts of recovery because you settled early.
So, it’s best to be patient with the process and allow you to work with your attorney to make sure that all of your injuries are well established and documented and so that when the claim is sent to the insurance company, the full amount of your settlement will be accounted for in the offer.
So, always seek good legal advice as to when you should settle your case. Don’t take that decision upon yourself.
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Jeffery Robinette was admitted to practice law in 1991 and is licensed in all levels of state and federal trial courts in West Virginia. Mr. Robinette is also licensed in all state and federal appeals courts in West Virginia and the United States Supreme Court. As a National Board Certified Trial Attorney who has handled hundreds of motor vehicle, injury, and construction defect claims and a leading author on insurance claims settlement issues and difficulties in West Virginia, Jeff Robinette is uniquely qualified to represent your best interest.
