If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you deserve to be compensated for your injuries and the losses that you’ve suffered as a result.
If you were injured after using a company’s dangerous products or devices or due to other negligent actions by a company, they may be liable for compensating you for your losses. In many cases, injured victims have to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party.
But when you’re dealing with daily pain and emotional and mental stress from trying to recover from your injuries and the financial costs of your injuries are steadily piling up, how long can you wait for the compensatory relief you deserve? Unfortunately, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to give you an exact date when you can expect to be compensated for what you’re going through as a result of another party’s actions.
The Personal Injury Claims and Lawsuit Process
Some personal injury cases begin as personal injury claims. For example, victims who were injured in auto accidents or in some slip and fall accidents generally pursue compensation for their injuries by filing a personal injury claim with the at-fault party’s insurance company.
When you file a personal injury claim with an insurance company, the insurance company will investigate the accident in which you were injured. The goal of the insurance company when investigating an accident isn’t necessarily to gather the facts and a neutral understanding of how you were harmed. Instead, their objective is to find anything that can point to actions of yours that may have contributed to the accident that caused your injuries. This is because if you have contributory fault for causing your injuries, the compensation you may be entitled to would be reduced. Any reduction in your compensation benefits the insurance company’s only priority: their bottom line.
This misalignment of objectives between the insurance company and you as the injured party leads to a likely negotiation process where you try to obtain the compensation you deserve. In some cases, the insurance company will agree to compensate you in an amount you’re owed. This could happen relatively quickly if your accident was particularly clear-cut. But in other cases, the negotiations are unsuccessful because the insurance company just won’t budge. They’ll offer you less than your losses are worth. In the latter event, you’ll need to file a lawsuit to get the compensation you’re owed.
Considerations When Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit
In other cases in which there is no claim to file with an insurance company, or if negotiations for fair compensation were unsuccessful after filing a claim with the insurance company, you’ll need to file a personal injury lawsuit. This process can be arduous and long. The amount of time it takes to resolve a personal injury lawsuit is unpredictable as it can depend on numerous factors.
Who Are You Suing?
If you’ve sustained injuries as a result of a defective drug or product, for example, you could have to go up against multi-million or billion-dollar companies. These companies retain high-powered, expensive attorneys and can afford a long, drawn-out legal process. In addition, certain types of personal injury cases, like defective product cases and malpractice cases, can take years to resolve because of how complex they are.
Did You File a Claim First?
As previously mentioned, depending on the type of accident you were injured in, you may have to file a claim with the at- fault party’s insurance company as the first step in seeking compensation for your injuries. The claims process could take weeks or months. You could spend these weeks or months trying to reach a settlement with the insurance company for fair compensation. In the end, you may still have to file a lawsuit. This adds to the amount of time it will take for you to ultimately be compensated if your lawsuit is successful.
When Did You Hire a Personal Injury Attorney?
Some injured people try to pursue compensation on their own. Perhaps they’re concerned that hiring an attorney to help them would be too expensive or they underestimate how challenging the effort can be. If you delay hiring an attorney, you may waste significant time trying to seek compensation alone and potentially being unsuccessful.
Contact Spiros Law, P.C. Right Away If Someone Injured You
Since 2005, our personal injury lawyers have been fighting to obtain compensation for our injured clients throughout Illinois. We want to help you recover what you’ve lost due to your injuries.
Call Spiros Law, P.C. at (815) 929-9292 to schedule your free consultation today. We offer free consultations, including free consultations via video if you’re unable to visit our office.
