If the insurance company of the responsible party can find evidence that can help dispute liability, including statements made by you that may indicate that you assume some liability for the accident, the insurance company can push to take the lawsuit to court. Sometimes insurance companies intentionally mistreat plaintiffs and refuse to offer fair settlements. This is called insurance bad faith. Occurs when an insurance company fails to deal with a claim or customer in a good faith attempt to resolve the case.
Instead, the insurance company handles the case dishonestly or unfairly to try to save money. If an insurance company acts in bad faith during your case, you can end up in court. Taking the insurance company to trial may force it to pay the full value of your injuries and losses. Your lawyer may also want to file a bad faith lawsuit against the insurance company to get additional compensation for your problems and inconveniences.
Many smaller personal injury lawsuits are resolved before a lawsuit is filed. In a car accident for example, if your car accident settlement lawyers think the case can be resolved, he will sue the other lawyer or the other party's insurance company. Learn more about how the settlement negotiation process works in a personal injury case. For anything other than a very minor claim, it's usually a good idea to talk at least about your situation with a personal injury lawyer.
Each state's pretrial procedures are different, but generally, a personal injury case will take one to two years to go to trial. While an experienced personal injury lawyer can often convince the insurance company to offer a fair amount and resolve the case successfully, some insurance companies refuse to increase their offers. The insurance company and your personal injury lawyer will surely continue to negotiate during the pre-trial and discovery phases. If you've suffered an injury in Northwest Florida, you need an experienced Florida personal injury lawyer on your side.
The insurance company will generally respond with a low counteroffer; then there will be a series of conversations between your personal injury lawyer and the insurance company until a fair settlement is reached. If the other party to your case doesn't agree that it caused your accident and personal injury, you may have a contested claim. Most people imagine important court trials with a judge and jurors when they imagine a personal injury case. Having a personal injury lawyer on your side could be the difference between receiving the compensation you deserve for your injuries and having to go to court.
Most personal injury lawsuits never go to trial because they are resolved before a lawsuit is filed or after, but a settlement is usually reached before the case ends before a jury. After examining the facts of your case, an experienced personal injury lawyer will provide you with an estimate of the value of your personal injury case. In certain cases, your personal injury lawyer will most likely advise you to start a lawsuit against the defendant. The general rule is that you should consider hiring an attorney if you suffered a serious physical injury or suffered other damages that exceed the amount allowed in small claims court.
The statute of limitations for personal injury cases varies by state, but generally ranges from 1 to 3 years. Understanding how personal injury lawsuits work will help you relax and determine whether or not your case will go to trial. As a result, it's impossible to accurately predict how long your personal injury case will take to resolve. .