How long will my case last?

Video Transcription

Interviewer: How long will my case last?

Attorney Reuben J. Donig: There are various factors that will go into deciding how long your case will last. Number one, your case cannot be settled until you have either healed from your injuries, or your injuries have reached a point where a very reasonable prognosis can be made. If you’re never gonna reach full healing, we at least have to have the doctors being able to say, this is what your future is going to entail. You’re gonna have these kinds of pains, you’re gonna have these kinds of symptoms, you’re gonna need this kind of treatment, it’s gonna cost so and so much. It’s gonna limit you from doing this, that, and the other thing. Whether it’s work limitations, whether it’s recreational limitations, whether it’s daily life limitations. You have to know those things before you can reasonably assess a case, and come to a reasonable valuation and settlement. So, as long as it takes for you to reach that stage. That plateau where you’re either healed, or you’ve leveled off, and you’re in a situation where the doctors can make that reasonable prognosis, your case cannot be settled. In some cases it’s three months, in some cases, it can be three or four years.

Another factor that goes into it is the amenability of the other side in trying to settle it. I mean, if you’ve got a case where you feel it’s ready to settle, your injuries are known, and they’re qualified, and they’re quantified. The other side wants to play fair and pay a fair and reasonable amount. You can settle your case sooner. If they don’t, you’re in litigation, unless you want to accept pennies on the dollar of what the value of your case is. Once you’re in litigation, even if your injuries have plateaued, have leveled off, we’ve reached that stage where the doctors can make a reasonable prognosis. You’re usually gonna not be able to settle that case for a good six months to a year after filing the lawsuit. So, those are usually the guidelines and parameters of how long it will take to get your case resolved.