When Insurance Has Denied Your Case
What happens when your personal injury case is denied or if you don’t receive a sufficient settlement offer?
First, we file a lawsuit in the local county and then we serve the defendant or defendants. Then within two to three months, we will receive written questions, called interrogatories, that we will work with you to help get answered. The questions they’ll ask information about:
- Witnesses
- Documents
- Photographs
- Medical treatment
- Your prior medical history.
Then one to two months or more after that, they will take your deposition. This is where the other party’s attorney will ask you a long series of questions about the accident and your injuries and your recovery. We will prepare you that morning, so everything is fresh in your mind and you’re comfortable.
We will also be taking depositions of the other parties involved, as well as police officers or any witnesses. We will also present your doctor or doctors for their depositions so that they can support your claim for your injuries. If need be, we will hire experts to support your claim and have their depositions taken as well. We will also take the deposition of the other party’s experts if they have any.
After the depositions are done, which can take many months, the court will ultimately set your case for trial. At any point during this process, the defense attorneys may want to bring your case to settlement either by mediation or arbitration in front of a judge. If we are unable to resolve it from a mediation or arbitration, then ultimately your case will come to trial, and when that trial date arrives, we will bring your case before a jury.
Unfortunately, this process could take anywhere from one to three years depending on the complexity of the case and how backed up the courts are. I know this can be frustrating for many people, but there is unfortunately no way to speed up the system.
I always tell people the best way to think about this is to think that you have a little life insurance annuity that’s going to cash in a couple years. My best suggestion is to go about your life like you don’t have a case, and whatever you would do financially to survive is what you need to do. Otherwise, you are likely to get very frustrated at the process because it will take a long time.
Rest assured, however, that we will do whatever it takes to push your case to trial as fast as possible. And remember, we are here to help you all along the way and answer any questions you have during this process.
