How long is a Seattle car accident personal injury case going to take to settle? Is it going to take years or months? Many people think if you hire a lawyer your case is going to go to trial and take years to settle but this is not even close to true for most cases.
The majority of Seattle personal injury car accident injury cases can settle outside of filing a lawsuit. This means that most cases will settle within a couple months of the client finishing medical treatment. Some Seattle personal injury lawyers are different in their approach and believe that all cases must be filed with the court, sue the defendant, but that is not my approach. I believe that once a client believes they are done with chiropractor, massage, physical therapy, surgery, etc. and back to normal or as close as possible, we can begin trying to settle their Seattle personal injury case. Settlement negotiations can take a month to a few months in most car accident injury cases before a settlement can be reached.
However, some cases may have to settle or a lawsuit filed before a client is completely back to normal because some people take over three years to heal. The reason for this is because there is a 3 year statute of limitation for car accident injury cases in Washington State. This means that if a car accident injury case has not settled or been filed with the court within 3 years of the car accident, the personal injury victim will lose their right to recover any money from the insurance company or defendant.
If you have been injured in a Seattle car accident, give me a call for a free consultation so you don’t lose out on your timeline to settle with the insurance company.