How Long Does a West Palm Beach Car Accident Case Take?

By Evan Fetterman on December 26, 2022

The aftermath of an accident can be confusing and chaotic. However, once things settle down and you have contacted our legal team at Fetterman & Associates, PA, you may wonder – how long will your car accident lawsuit take to settle?

You will quickly discover several factors that impact the timeline of your claim. Issues like the complexity of the case, your injuries, the insurance company, and your attorney all play a role.

On average, car accident litigation lasts one to three years from when your lawsuit is filed to when it goes to trial or a settlement is reached. It can be scary to think that it may be several years before you receive a settlement offer. Due to the significant amount of time a car accident case can take to settle, it is in your best interest to contact our legal services immediately.

When you call Fetterman & Associates, PA, you can feel confident that our team will get to work immediately to evaluate all the different elements of your claim. We will investigate the physical evidence available, review the official police report, and interview all witnesses. We are thorough and diligent in helping our clients recover the compensation they deserve as quickly as possible.

Some of the factors that impact the amount of time your claim takes to settle can be found here.

Determining the Value of Your Car Accident Claim

You cannot know for sure that a settlement offer made for your car accident claim is fair until the value of your accident is established. To calculate the value of your car accident claim, you must determine your economic or financial losses first. This includes lost wages, medical costs, reduced earning capacity, and costs of property damage (i.e., car repairs, personal belongings that were damaged, etc.).

Usually, it is recommended that you wait until all medical treatment is complete for injuries you sustained in the accident before determining the claim’s value. The official term for this is reaching maximum medical improvement. When this is achieved, no additional treatment is needed, nor will it help improve your condition. Sometimes, your doctor or medical experts can estimate the future treatment you may require for the injuries you sustained and the cost of that treatment.

For most claims, you need documentation to show the claim’s value. Some of the documents that can help with this include medical records, bills for treatment, pay stubs or income statements to determine your lost income and earning power, invoices for property damage, and others. Along with this type of compensation, you can also include pain and suffering and lost quality of life in your accident claim. Once the value is determined, your attorney can create a demand letter that is sent to the at-fault driver, their attorney, or their insurance company.

Settling Your West Palm Beach Car Accident Claim

After receiving your demand letter, it can take days or weeks for the other party to respond. It all depends on how long it takes the at-fault party’s insurance company or attorney to investigate the claim you have made.

It is common for the initial demand to be rejected by the other party. Remember, the goal is to pay you as little as possible.

However, there are situations where liability is clear and undisputed. In these cases, your accident claim may not take longer than a few weeks to settle. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen often.

In most cases, the insurance company will attempt to deny that their client is liable for the accident or contest the extent of your losses and injuries. When this happens, it may take years to settle.

If settlement negotiations seem to never end, you may be able to file a lawsuit, which will preserve your legal rights to receive compensation and put additional pressure on the at-fault party’s insurance company to offer a fair settlement amount.

The potential of a lawsuit and a large verdict award that occurs by going to trial motivates many insurance companies to offer an accident victim a more reasonable settlement amount. Once a lawsuit is filed in your case, you can accept a settlement offer at any time – even in the middle of a court trial.

Contact Fetterman & Associates, PA, for Help with Your Car Accident Claim

If you want to receive a fair settlement offer quickly for your car accident claim, contact our legal team at Fetterman & Associates, PA. Our legal team will work to negotiate with the other party and prove that you deserve the compensation demanded in the initial letter. The first step is to contact our office to schedule a free initial consultation.