How Long Will a Personal Injury Claim Take?

I get this question a lot: How long will it take to get my personal injury claim finished in Oakland

The answer depends in part on part on whether you want to get "some" of the compensation you are entitled to, or if you want to get "all" of the compensation you are entitled to. For example, if you are injured in a rear-end accident and you are not taken to the hospital in an ambulance, the insurance company will tell you that this was a minor accident, that your medical bills are too high, etc. They will then (likely - but not always) give you a lowball offer). In order to get them to pay your full medical bills, you may need to file a lawsuit, and you may even need to go to trial. If the injuries are very bad and there is minimal insurance to pay for your damages you may have a much quicker process.

I tell clients that we go through the following steps:

1. They tell us they are done with their treatment
2. We order medical records and billing records
3. We prepare a settlement demand for their review
4. We submit it to the insurance company

Depending on how difficult it is to get medical records, this process can take up to 3-4 months after you have completed your treatment. Ideally, we would have all claims either settled or ready for litigation after 2 months.

Pete Clancy is a personal injury lawyer. He can be reached at 925-835-7500.