How Long Will My Case Take?

One of the most asked questions for any Miami personal injury lawyer is “how long will my case take?” It is also impossible to give a blanket response to this question because of so many factors that influence the length of time in which a personal injury case is resolved. But there are some guidelines that our Miami personal injury attorneys do in fact discuss with clients at the beginning.

First it is important to understand what we can control and what we cannot. Your Miami personal injury lawyer can move your case along by maintaining good communication and file management. That includes monthly reviews of the file to make sure:

• all potential defendants have been placed on notice
• all requests for information including but not limited to medical records, hospital records, accident reports and lost wage information have been responded to so that there is no delay when it comes time to make a demand on your case
• client contact to ensure that the office has current contact information and that the client is informed on the progress of their personal injury case
• that all phone calls and correspondence have been returned and responded to

With proper file management, a personal injury law firm can minimize unnecessary delays in moving the case towards a successful resolution.

Once the personal injury client has reached MMI – Maximum Medical Improvement- then the ball is in the personal injury attorneys court. At that point, the attorney should have all the medical records, proof of lost wages, and radiological films. In addition, the lawyer should have completed the liability investigation and consulted with whatever experts that were necessary to prove the defendant’s negligence.

If your personal injury lawyer has properly managed your file and collected all the necessary information it is now time to prepare and submit the demand. So you might be wondering what is a” demand”? Simply stated it is a letter that outlines your case and why the targeted defendant and/or insurance company is responsible for your damages. Supporting documents such as medical records, radiological films, tax records, wage information, and expert reports are attached to the demand letter.

Typically demand letters provide a time period for the insurance company to respond and that time ranges from 20 to 30 days. Now keep in mind insurance companies like to hold onto their money. Every delay is to the benefit of the insurance company. Your personal injury lawyer will need to keep the pressure on the insurance company and not allow unnecessary delays.

Insurance company adjusters will review a demand letter and whatever else is submitted with the demand. Then they usually ask for more information which creates delay. They will ask to take the statement of the personal injury client. Once they’ve made all the requests for more information that they can think of then they start to argue the merits of the case. As they argue, more delay is created. The insurance adjuster’s endgame is usually to exhaust the lawyer and the client to the point where they take less than full value just to get the case over with. In the demand stage, most of the leverage is in favor of the insurance company.

In our analysis and experience, any attempts for an unreasonable delay is best met with the filing of a lawsuit. In litigation, the insurance company will get all the information it needs but they will have to do so within the confines of the Rules of Civil Procedure and Florida law.

The filing of a personal injury lawsuit allows the lawyer and the client more control over how long the case will take to resolve. After the cases filed with the court and the defendant is served with the summons time deadlines begin. The defendant has 20 days to respond to the complaint. Assuming an insurance defense attorney makes an appearance for the defendant and ultimately files an answer on behalf of the defendant more deadlines are available to the plaintiff attorney and their client.

One of the most important controls that a plaintiff has is the ability to notice a case for trial. Once a case is noticed for trial the court orders a mediation to take place within a certain deadline. This effectively puts an end date on the case. Your personal injury case will now be resolved through settlement or jury verdict.

At Wolfson & Leon, we work aggressively to resolve our clients cases as quickly, efficiently and professionally as possible. We manage our cases with a top-notch case management software system. All our personal injury cases are reviewed monthly. A majority of our cases end up being filed in court so that our clients are not unnecessarily delayed in the demand stage where the insurance company has all the leverage. We file notices of trial on most of our cases at the first available opportunity. If we are unable to resolve the case at mediation, then we will not hesitate to go to trial for our clients. If an appeal becomes necessary, we are prepared to represent our clients through the appellate process.

If you were injured in any type of personal injury accident or incident, then we invite you to call Wolfson & Leon at (305) 285-1115 for your free and confidential consultation. Our bilingual personal injury team is ready to serve you. We represent folks who were injured in any type of accident in Miami or throughout South Florida. In addition to Miami we also serve the South Florida communities of Hialeah, Homestead, Miami Lakes, Aventura, Weston, Fort Lauderdale, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Miramar, North Miami, Miami Gardens, North Miami Beach, Midtown, Miami Beach, Kendall and South Miami.