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How Long Will My Personal Injury Case Take?

How Long Will My Personal Injury Case Take

Summary: There’s no timeline for a personal injury case. A qualified attorney will help you determine the best time to file and guide you through the process. The balance of learning the medical prognosis of your injuries and filing within the statute of limitations is a delicate one. Contact McCoy & Sparks at (844) 4KY-WINS to work with an experienced attorney who will help you navigate your personal injury suit in a timely manner.

Your personal injury case is as unique as your injury, which means your timeline won’t look like anybody else’s. There are a lot of variables at play when you file a personal injury suit, but knowing how long it will take can help you prepare for the legal process ahead.

With any personal injury suit, your eyes are probably on the finish line and being able to move forward with your life. So when will you be finished?

The truth is, there’s no definite answer. The timeline for beginning a personal injury claim can be a moving target.

The Evolving Timeline of Filing a Personal Injury Case

Getting Started

The first step in any personal injury case is filing a claim. While you have a year from the date of your injury to do so (and you may be in a hurry to get things moving), you certainly don’t want to make the claim until you have a fair understanding of the full ramifications of that injury.

An example: If you are having problems with your back following a car accident and they continue to worsen over the course of six months, you may find that the issue is more serious than you initially thought.

You may want to set a meeting with your doctor to understand the full ramifications of your injury and the short- and long-term treatment you will need. If you need surgery, what are the potential risks? How long will it take to heal? What are the typical restrictions following your treatment? What is your lifelong prognosis?

If you make a claim before you even discuss in-depth treatment plans like surgeries you might need, you miss all of this. This is why we refer to the process of beginning a personal injury claim as a moving target; it’s all about your treatment and healing process and the gravity of your injuries.

Why It Can Take a While

If done properly, it should take your personal injury attorney quite a while to prepare to file your case. They will need to collect information about the accident, your medical bills, your prognosis and future medical needs, and more.

Sure, you can enter quick negotiations and settle your case in an expedited fashion. But in doing so, you could miss the full scope of your injuries.

How long will it take for your case to go to court? Personal injury suits can take 18 months to two years to reach a jury trial, but even these aren’t final because the verdict of a jury trial can be appealed, which can take a few additional years.

A very small fraction of cases can take as long as five to seven years to resolve, but these are an extreme minority and a definite exception to the rule. Once filed, most cases are resolved within a year, and many settle before going to trial by going to mediation.

Personal Injury and Kentucky Statute of Limitations Laws

When you are injured in an accident and you decide to file a personal injury case, you actually have a deadline by which you need to file your suit and seek damages after someone caused your injury. This is referred to as the statute of limitations.

While the statute of limitations varies from state to state, in Kentucky, the statute that will apply to most personal injury lawsuits gives you one year to file your suit. This timeframe starts from the date of the underlying incident or accident. This applies to cases of negligence as well as cases of intentional wrongdoing.

Does this mean that you should wait 11 months to talk to a personal injury attorney? On the contrary: If you have been injured and you suspect someone else is at fault, you should get in touch with a personal injury lawyer shortly after your accident. You will have discussions with insurance carriers to contend with, medical bills to sort through and other hurdles that your attorney can help you navigate.

Some cases, like medical malpractice suits, can be hard to prove and require a great deal of work from your attorney. There is a lot of evidence to be collected, and you may need to collect information from experts who can attest to the seriousness of your injuries and how they may impact your lift.

Get Help From Experienced Professionals

Filing a personal injury suit at the right time is a delicate balance. There’s a great deal of information that needs to be gathered, and you need the advice of medical and legal professionals to understand the depth of your injuries.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident because of the negligence of another party, you know what an impact it can have on your life and how much you want to put this stressful chapter of your life behind you.

At McCoy & Sparks, we understand how taxing it can be to embark on a personal injury suit. We’re here to alleviate the stress and make the process as smooth as possible. Our team of expert personal injury attorneys will listen carefully to your concerns and put your needs first—always.

You didn’t ask for these injuries, but you can ask for the best representation to recover from them as best you can. We’re here to help. Find out more about how we’ll advocate for you by calling (844) 4KY-WINS, or get a free case evaluation today.

Trust McCoy & Sparks—Premier Personal Injury Attorneys in Nelson County

Recognized as Nelson County’s best law firm for over a decade and counting, McCoy & Sparks works to help people in trouble, representing thousands of clients in Central Kentucky with a focus on providing premium service and delivering superior results.

Regardless of the type of case, our goal is to develop a strategy that best serves your personal needs, then draws upon our courtroom skills to help you reach the best possible result. We start by getting to know you. Next, we will explain all your options, giving you the pros and cons of each choice so that you will be empowered to make informed decisions.

You owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Make the right call to (844) 4KY-WINS for a risk-free consultation with one of our attorneys today.

Video Transcript
It’s a moving target as to when you make the claim but you certainly wouldn’t want to make the claim until you had a fair understanding of the full ramifications of that injury. In other words, if you’re having problems with your back and those problems with your back last for six months, but they continue to get worse and they flare up, you can make the claim at that point and say, “Hey, I’ve got a back injury that doesn’t appear to be a clearing up.”

Or you can set a meeting with the person’s doctor to find out is this potentially surgical? What are the potential ramifications of the surgery? How long does it take to heal from surgery? What are the typical restrictions a person is placed on post-surgery? Well, if you make the claim before surgery’s even being discussed by the doctors, you miss all of that. So, it is a dynamic moving target.

It’s not quick if done properly candidly, because you need to know the answers and then you need to serve the client. Well, you can enter quick negotiations and settle the case sometimes, but other times the other side won’t give you any of their position, completely unreasonable, and you have to file suit. Well, suits take 18 months to two years often to get to a jury trial. That’s not guaranteed the end of it either because a jury trial can be an appealed, the verdict can be appealed. Appeals take another couple of years. So there are these horrible minority of cases that take five, six, seven years, but they’re an extreme minority. Most cases are well within a year are resolved in that time.