How long should my injury case take to settle?

I get this question ALL the time:

“How long is it going to take to settle my injury claim?”

My response is this: “How long is it going to take for you to recover?”

I love answering questions with a question, mostly because I’m a jerk.  But this is a legitimate response.  The length of time it takes to handle an injury claim is intrinsically tied to the recovery of the victim.  It makes absolute sense that the value of a case where someone takes 1 week to recover is going to be less than the value of a case where it takes 1 year for them to recover.  How do we know early on which of those situations you have?  We don’t! We can’t!  What about lost wages?  Medical expenses?  Permanent impairment?  Scarring?  How do we find the real depth of these issues without allowing them to reach their nadir?

If you really want a fair valuation of your claim, you have to give it time to develop.

It’s trite, but true:  Do you want it done fast or do you want it done right?  With respect to injury claims if you want it done fast, you’re not going to get it done right.