We understand that your goal is to get your personal injury claim resolved as quickly as possible so that you can get on with your life. However, the circumstances of your accident and injury will determine how long the process will take to achieve a settlement. We have found that the two windows most ripe for settlement are 2 months after your medical treatment is completed (pre-litigation settlement) and 6 months after filing a lawsuit (post-litigation settlement).

Of course, every case is different and opportunities to settle your case can be frequent. If we are required to file a complaint on your behalf because the insurance company refuses to offer a reasonable settlement, we typically will do that right away. However, you should know that California law gives you two years from the date of your accident to either settle your case or file a complaint to protect your claim (Note: if the defendant is a governmental entity, you have six months from the date of your accident to file a formal governmental claim, not two years).

2 months after medical treatment is completed

The majority of our cases are settled in this window. Cases that settle in this window often have the following characteristics:

• You have been diagnosed with an identifiable injury.
  You do not have substantial permanent injury or long-lasting symptoms.
  You do not require future medical treatment for your injuries.
  You did not have a pre-existing injury in the same part of your body.
  You have private health insurance (not Medi-cal, Medicare, etc.)
  The other party accepts responsibly and you bear no fault (comparative negligence)
  The person who injured you was not a government employee.

6 months after filing a lawsuit

Sometimes insurance companies refuse to accept responsibility or don’t respect the value of our client’s damages and we must file a lawsuit to create sufficient pressure on the other side. A common misconception about filing a lawsuit is that it means that a trial will occur. That’s not true, at least not with us. We have a reputation for working up our clients’ cases in the litigation process so well that approximately 95% of all cases that require us to litigate result in a settlement for our clients without the need for trial. The reason that our post-litigation settlements typically occur about 6 months after filing the complaint is because formal, written discovery needs to be done and depositions need to be taken of the parties (including you) and key witnesses. These things typically take about six months to complete.

If your case is one of the few that does requires a trial, we are experienced trial attorneys and will present your case to a jury.