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After being involved in a car accident, the financial burdens caused by medical bills, missing work, and out-of-pocket expenses may have you wondering why your car accident claim is taking so long to settle.
While this is a valid question, the truth is that the length between your car accident and final settlement is crucial to increasing the value of your claim and avoiding a lower settlement.
Below, we'll cover six common factors that led to a delayed car accident settlement.
1. Complexity of the Case
The complexity of your accident claim significantly impacts how long an accident settlement takes.
Factors like a car accident involving multiple vehicles, a commercial vehicle, disputed liability, or severe injuries prolong the claims process as all aspects must be thoroughly analyzed and documented.
Severity of Injuries and Legal Complications
The severity of your injuries can greatly affect how long it takes to reach Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and settle your case.
If you suffered serious injuries in a car accident, you need a full medical evaluation and treatment before a settlement can be reached that accurately reflects your damages.
It's crucial not to rush medical care and to settle too early with insurance companies, as you might miss out on necessary compensation for future medical needs and care required to reach maximum medical improvement.
Additionally, insurance companies often wait until your condition reaches MMI before agreeing to a car accident settlement. Therefore, the severity of your suffered injuries plays a major role in determining the length of the settlement process.
Liability Determination and Disputes
Seeking a settlement when there are conflicting witness statements or multiple parties involved can easily become a complex and time-consuming process. Additionally, figuring out liability can be complicated when evidence is unclear, prolonging the overall legal system.
To minimize the time spent on determining liability and handling disputes, it's important to gather all possible evidence and seek advice from an experienced personal injury attorney from the Rodney Okano Car Accident Lawyer Law Firm to navigate these complexities.
2. Medical Treatment Duration
The duration of your medical treatment significantly affects the time it takes to settle your car accident claim, as you must be fully stabilized and reach Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) before a full assessment of damages can be made.
This ensures all necessary medical costs are included in the final compensation amount.
Ongoing Care Needs and Recovery Timeframes
Your recovery time and ongoing medical care needs greatly affect how long your settlement takes, and are considered one of the longest processes in an accident settlement.
Severe injuries require more thorough assessments, including medical records and expert opinions from medical professionals, making negotiations with insurance companies longer as insurers wait for the final medical costs.
Waiting until you reach MMI helps ensure that the settlement covers both current and future medical expenses, providing you with a more complete claim.
Delays in Receiving Necessary Medical Care
Failing to promptly obtain the medical care you need, such as attending medical appointments, can result in avoidable delays in your case.
When injuries are severe or treatments are long, insurance companies stall for a full picture of your medical situation before settling. This means seeking late medical care and providing incomplete medical records can slow down negotiations with insurance adjusters, making it harder to reach an agreement on a settlement.
3. Insurance Company Tactics
An insurance adjuster will employ various strategies to delay and lower settlements, such as requesting extensive documentation and making low offers to minimize payouts.
They may also involve multiple insurance companies and dispute fault percentages, complicating and extending the settlement process further. For this reason, it's crucial to enlist the help of an experienced personal injury lawyer who can help navigate these tactics efficiently.
Slowing Down Investigations and Claims Processing
Insurance companies often delay investigations and claim processing by asking for more documentation or delaying responses, making the accident claim frustratingly slow.
When dealing with multiple insurance companies, such delays become common as each insurer needs time to review evidence and negotiate liability. This can extend your accident settlement timeline significantly.
Denying Claims Without Justification
Insurance companies might deny your car accident claim without providing clear reasons why. When this happens, it's tough to know how to respond or what information you need to provide to get your claim reinstated.
When faced with such a denial from an insurance company, ask for specific reasons in writing so you can understand and address their concerns properly.
If the insurance company continues to deny your claim, consult with a personal injury attorney, who can take over and handle communications with the insurer on your behalf.
4. Liability Disputes
Liability disputes can significantly extend the settlement process, as they involve investigations, evidence gathering, and negotiations with insurance companies over who is at fault and what percentage of fault a party should bear.
Unclear Fault
If the accident involved multiple vehicles and it's not clear who is at fault, determining liability becomes a lengthy process.
Both sides need a strong case and evidence to prove that the other party was at fault, which may involve hiring expert witnesses, such as accident reconstructionists, for testimony or analysis.
This can lead to extended negotiations and delays as each party, including the insurance company, tries to establish the facts and assign liability accurately based on extensive evidence, including accident reports, expert testimony, and witness statements.
Disputes Over Negligence
In some cases, especially complex cases, fault will be disputed, which complicates getting a fair settlement in a timely manner.
Insurance companies will try to prove that you were partly at fault for the car accident to reduce or avoid paying compensation. Even with help from a personal injury lawyer, your attorney will need to gather strong evidence to show you weren't negligent, which can take time and lead to longer settlement talks.
5. Legal Procedures Delays
Legal procedures following a car accident can be lengthy due to investigations, negotiations, and potential litigation involving insurance companies and personal injury lawyers.
Insurance companies may use delay tactics to reduce payouts, while disputes over liability or injury severity can lengthen accident settlements. Understanding these factors helps manage expectations during the accident settlement process.
Court Scheduling and Judicial Backlogs
Civil court schedules are often packed, which will lead to your cases' hearings and trials being delayed.
Once a lawsuit is filed, your case could face significant wait times due to court backlogs and the insurance company's corporate policy. This can extend the overall car accident settlement process.
However, it's essential to be patient during this stage as judicial systems and personal injury attorneys work through their caseloads.
Filing Timelines
After a car accident, it's crucial to provide all necessary documents like medical records, police reports, and witness statements related to the accident to your lawyer, who will ensure that your claim and demand letters are filed correctly and on time.
Missing any deadlines on document filing can delay your case, so it's important to be thorough and organized from the start to ensure a faster resolution.
6. Negotiation Delays
Negotiating car accident settlements often involves a series of specific dollar claims and counterclaims that can take a long time to reach a final agreement.
Additionally, insurance companies may use tactics like requesting more documentation or extending investigations to delay the settlement process, hoping claimants will accept lower settlements due to financial strain. Legal representation can help navigate these delays effectively.
Back-and-Forth Counteroffers
Negotiations often involve you making a settlement offer and then the insurance company throwing a counteroffer right back at you.
This process can drag on for weeks or months, depending on how far apart both sides are in reaching a resolution. Hiring a lawyer can make negotiations smoother, as they help set realistic expectations and push for fair settlements.
Unable to Agree on the Value of the Claim
If the parties involved and the insurance company are unable to agree on a settlement, negotiations stall as both sides struggle to agree on the worth of your car accident claim.
This uncertainty prolongs negotiations and makes it harder to reach a fair settlement in good faith quickly. Additionally, it could lead to your case going to trial, which can further extend case timelines.
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Rodney Okano Car Accident Lawyer is a Las Vegas personal injury law firm with over 20 years of experience helping clients obtain maximum compensation following injuries from accidents such as car crashes, worksite injuries, and slips and falls. Over those years, The Rodney Okano Car Accident Lawyer Law Firm has become an experienced law firm that can ensure exceptional results for any of its clients.
