When you suffer a personal injury, it can take weeks or months to recover from your injuries. After you initiate your personal injury claim, this begins a new journey into obtaining a settlement with the help of your attorney. This also can take time, and it could be months before you receive your settlement. Personal injury claims start with an investigation and often end with a negotiation between parties.
Initial Consultation
Before you begin a personal injury claim, you will need to consult with your attorney to figure out if this is the right path for you. You only have a valid case if you are not at fault for your injuries. Try to learn more about personal injury law to help you understand the process.
They Use Your Evidence To Build a Case
Once your attorney believes you have a case, you can begin providing your attorney with any evidence that you have. This means that you will need pictures, contact information, personal accounts of what happened, physical evidence, and other information. In addition to the proof you collected, your attorney will also launch their own investigation and help you discover more data that can lead to proving who is at fault.
Your Attorney Estimates Your Damages
After a review of your case, your attorney will want to know how much your damages are worth. They’ll add up your medical bills, estimate your pain and suffering by using a multiplier, and include any property damage. With traditional methods, your attorney will accurately calculate your damages.
Negotiation Process
Your attorney will begin drafting documents that hold all of the information regarding your personal injury claim. They include information about the details of your accident, all the damages you accumulated, and also the evidence that connects the other party’s actions to your injuries. This information will be passed along to the other party and their insurer. You can expect this to require some time to process, as the other party may try to lower the settlement amount or provide counter-evidence to dissuade your attorney.
Respond to Negotiations
It will be up to you and your attorney to decide how much you want to receive in your settlement claim. As negotiations are ongoing, you can focus on your recovery and not have to worry about fighting with the other party’s insurance company. Another thing you might not anticipate is when you need to take more time off, resulting in higher wage loss. If your damages are manageable, you may decide to lower the settlement amount to agree with the other party’s terms to close the negotiations. It can take anywhere from weeks, months, to a year for you and the other party to settle.
File a Lawsuit
When you and the other party can’t come to an agreement, your attorney can file a lawsuit and take them to court. In this case, the judge decides what the settlement amount is if they believe the other party to be at fault.
Learn More About Personal Injury Claims
If you want to consider initiating a personal injury claim, talk to a legal professional first. They can counsel you and provide guidance on your case.