How Long will My Injury Claim Take?

One of the Most Common Questions in Personal Injury Litigation is, "When will I get paid?" Here is what to keep in mind.

One of the most common question I hear in representing injured clients in Champaign Urbana and across Illinois is, "how long will it take to get paid." The truth is, they can be short or long depending on how much investigation, negotiation, and litigation is required. While there is no set way to predict how long a mass tort case will take, there are a few factors that can help you estimate.

What Lengthens an injury claim?

The length of an injury or auto accident claim often isn't so much affected by litigation so much as it is affected by gathering evidence for the claim. The more evidence you have, the stronger your claim will be. However, the more evidence there is, the longer it will take to gather and analyze.

Factors that will lengthen a mass tort or personal injury claim include:

• Gathering and interviewing expert witnesses. Depending on the nature of the claim, this could include doctors, scientists, researchers, developers, and even marketing or economics specialists. Furthermore, travel to depose these expert witnesses can further lengthen the process
• Collection of evidence. Gathering evidence such as medical records or company documents can often take months to gather as well as analyze. The process can be further slowed down if those involved with providing the evidence slow down the process with inaction or stacking the deck with documents unrelated to the case.
• Settlement negotiations. Some cases may be settled out of court, but getting a settlement that everyone can agree on takes a large amount of time and negotiation.

All of the above slow down the process, so for clients of injury claims and auto accident claims, there will likely be a large amount of downtime involved while their lawyer gathers evidence and interviews witnesses. Those involved in personal injury cases of all kinds should be aware that it will take some time before any compensation is received.

At the end of the day it is worth noting that Holder Law Group, like many other plaintiffs law firms, work on a contingency fee basis which means that we advance all the costs of litigation and only recover if we win.  This being the case, we have every motivation to resolves cases as quickly as possible.

Are you considering pursuing a personal injury claim in Illinois? Then come talk to us. Holder Law Group knows how long and frustrating any tort case can be, but if you believe you have a claim, you shouldn't just let it go.