If you sustain injuries during a car accident, your insurance company can compensate you for your medical expenses and lost wages. A car accident attorney can also help you receive money for pain, suffering, and emotional distress. Compensation can be for disability and disfigurement as well as loss of enjoyment of life.
The time it takes to receive the compensation varies depending on the following factors:
Severity of Injuries
Traumatic brain injury, multiple fractures, and spinal cord injuries are severe injuries that require extensive treatment. You could also undergo several medical evaluations if you have internal organ damage, severe burns, or severe whiplash. You might develop permanent disability or undergo amputation after a car accident.
Dealing with these injuries can delay the decision from your insurance company about injury compensation. A car accident attorney can often get your compensation quicker if you sustained only minor injuries such as minor fractures, soft tissue injuries, sprains, and strains. The process may also be faster for people who get mild concussions, minor burns, contusions, and minor bruises.
Complexity of Medical Reports
If you have a traumatic brain injury, you receive treatment from many specialists, including cognitive therapists, neurosurgeons, and neurologists. You also have to undergo several tests, including CT scans and MRIs. For those who have spinal cord injuries, they need to see orthopedic surgeons and rehabilitation physicians. Other injuries require ongoing consultations with psychologists, cardiologists, dermatologists, and reconstructive surgeons. You also have to go in for regular X-rays, bone scans, ultrasounds, and psychological assessments. These activities can take several months or even years to complete, and your insurance company can wait for their completion before settling the claim.
Disputes Over Injury Causation
The insurance company can disagree about what you claim to have caused the injury. They could state that your injuries are not as severe as you claim. If you had pre-existing conditions before the vehicle accident happened, your insurer could cite the conditions as the cause of your injuries. A medical expert has to conduct tests to determine exactly when injuries occurred. Insurance companies could claim that injuries occurred after the accident and not during the accident. This strategy is common when accident victims fail to seek medical treatment immediately after the accident.
Insurance companies use the nature of the accident to discredit the cause of your injuries. If you are involved in a low-impact accident but sustained serious injuries, the insurer might try to discredit your version of events. If there are inconsistencies in medical records and late reporting of symptoms, disagreements between you and the insurance company can arise. All these things require the opinion of experts and several tests to ascertain your claims. Since this is a time-consuming process, you have to wait a long time to receive compensation for your injuries.
Extensive Negotiation
If the injuries are severe and the insurance company disputes them, an extensive negotiation process follows. Your attorney has to file the initial claim and send a demand letter to start the settlement process. The insurance company then reviews the demand letter and begins an investigation. The process takes several days or even months to complete. After completing the investigation, the insurance company presents a counteroffer. The offer could be lower than what you asked for. If you think the offer is too low, your attorney comes up with a counteroffer and provides additional arguments and evidence. Additional evidence includes things such as lost wages and mounting medical costs.
The process of counteroffers and offers can go on repeatedly, with each side offering its arguments. If each side is willing to make concessions, an agreement could be reached sooner. When there is an impasse, the parties can decide to seek the help of a third party. A third party mediates between you and your insurance company. The entire process could take years before you get your settlement payment.
Potential for Litigation
If the insurance company fails to acknowledge your injuries, you can instruct your attorney to sue the insurance company. The litigation process involves the attorney filing a complaint and preparing the evidence. They then serve the defendant and wait for a response. Other stages involved in the litigation process include the discovery phase and the calling of witnesses. This process can take many months or more than a year. The next phase is the trial itself, which takes days or weeks. If there is an appeal, you have to wait longer to receive compensation.
Seek the Help of a Car Accident Attorney
Receiving compensation after a car accident shouldn’t take long if you work with a car accident attorney. The lawyer should present convincing evidence that prompts the insurance company to settle the case quickly. Start by finding an experienced lawyer near you.
