Why is my claim taking so long to settle?

Some of my personal injury clients (and potential clients), have asked me, “Why is it taking so long to settle my claim?”

There’s a short answer, and there’s a long answer. As an attorney, I am compelled to give you the long answer. But for those more inclined toward the short one, here it is:

Because things aren’t as simple as you may think.

The longer answer, by definition, takes a bit.

Let’s start by asking a question: What do you think your claim is worth? The answer is that you simply may not know yet.

You should look at your case on a time continuum, with the start being the day of the accident and the end being sometime later. The nearer in time you are to the date of injury, the more difficult it is to value your claim. Why is that? Well, claims are valued based on many factors: medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering are the main ones. The day after your accident, do you know what all of those totals are? How about the week after? Are you still treating three months later? Do you know all of those totals now? What about your pain and suffering? How do we value that until we know how long you suffered, or how badly?

That point is that injury claims are difficult to value until the injured party reaches maximum medical improvement. Everyone can understand that there is a difference in values of cases where one person makes a full recovery while another only makes a 50% recovery. So until I know where the victim is going to land in their recovery, I can’t accurately value the claim. And if I can’t value it, it probably doesn’t make sense to try to settle it yet. What’s the rush?

Of course, there are exceptions, and sometimes it does make sense to settle a case sooner rather than later. But that’s not always the case.

And even when we can get a good idea as to what the case should be worth, that doesn’t mean we are going to be able to get that quickly through negotiation. Adjusters often have 200 plus files at a time, and they have to monitor them all. They have to read and audit all of your medical bills, records, and other claims documentation. That simply takes time. This is not to mention that the old “desk authority” of adjusters (how much money they could personally get away with offering without question) has drastically lowered over the past 15 years, so adjusters often have to get supervisor’s authorization to offer you a meaningful settlement. It’s just a process.

And if negotiations fail that means we may have to litigate the claim. Generally speaking, claims that are litigated take about one year from filing to resolve, give or take a few months.

Yes, I know! This seems like a long time to get anything done. But remember the old quip, “Do you want it done quickly or do you want it done right?” While I’m not sure about the grammar, the substance of that holds true here. Rushing claims doesn’t make any sense. Preparing a sturdy case with all of our “I”s dotted and “T”s crossed increases our likelihood of success.

This is a great point to remember: The more patient you are, the more likely you are to get a favorable outcome.

I posted this in a previous blog entry, but it’s worth repeating: In the town of Poona in what we now call India in the year 1205 a man named Maloji Thorat filed a lawsuit in an effort to protect his rights regarding presiding over certain religious functions. It wasn’t until 1966 that the courts made a decision on that, and awarded his descendant Balasaheb Patloji Thorat a favorable decision.

My cases might take a while, but they don’t take 751 years. So look on the bright side! And if you are interested in talking to an attorney about an injury claim, call me at 919-929-2992.