You’re injured, out of work, and the bills won’t wait. Meanwhile, the insurance company drags its feet, hoping you’ll settle for less.
Some cases wrap up in weeks; others stretch for years.
So, how long will yours take?
It depends. Personal injury severity, insurance tactics, and legal strategy all play a role. This guide will breakdown what to expect at each stage.
Timeline of a Personal Injury Case
| Stage | What to Do | Estimated Timeframe |
|---|---|---|
| Injury Occurs | Seek medical help, document evidence, gather witness info. | Immediately |
| Seek Medical Treatment | Get checked even for minor injuries, keep all medical records. | Days to weeks |
| Consult a Lawyer | Schedule a free consultation, bring all relevant documents. | Within days to weeks |
| Preliminary Investigation | Lawyer gathers initial information, including accident details, witness statements, medical records, and insurance coverage. | Weeks |
| Full Case Investigation & Claim | Lawyer gathers further evidence, consults experts, and negotiates with insurance. | Weeks to months |
| Settlement Negotiation | Demand letter sent, back-and-forth with insurer. | 1–6 months |
| Filing a Lawsuit | If no settlement, lawsuit is filed. | Several weeks |
| Discovery Phase | Exchange of evidence, depositions, expert evaluations. | 6 months – 1 year |
| Mediation | Attempt to settle before trial. | 1–3 months |
| Trial & Verdict | If no settlement, case goes to court. | A few days to several weeks |
| Compensation | Receive settlement or court-awarded damages. | Weeks to months |
The length of your case depends on your injuries, Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI), and claim complexity.
Let’s first look at how MMI (a key milestone) could impact your case.
When Will You Reach Maximum Medical Improvement?
Maximum medical improvement (MMI) is the point at which your doctor certifies that further medical treatment cannot improve your condition. Hopefully, that means you have made a full recovery.
If not, then you will suffer long-term disability or medical problems such as:
- Paralysis,
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI),
- Amputation of a limb,
- Scarring and disfigurement,
- Back pain, and
- PTSD.
Many other physical infirmities can result in long-term pain and disability.
Reaching Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) is a critical milestone in your personal injury case. MMI means your condition has stabilized, and further medical treatment won’t significantly improve it.
Why does this matter? Your settlement should cover all medical expenses—including future ones. If you settle before reaching MMI, you risk accepting an offer that won’t cover ongoing treatments, surgeries, or complications.
The Reality of MMI
Our personal injury attorney Chase Hawk explains, the human body isn’t like a car—you can’t just “pop the hood” and diagnose everything at once. Some injuries take time to fully assess:
🔹 Soft tissue injuries might seem minor but could worsen over time.
🔹 A herniated disc or rotator cuff tear may not require surgery immediately, but if symptoms persist, you might need one later.
🔹 Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) can take months to fully diagnose, especially if symptoms like memory loss or chronic headaches develop gradually.
If your condition hasn’t stabilized yet, rushing into a settlement could leave you paying out-of-pocket for future treatments. That’s why an experienced personal injury lawyer will never rush negotiations before MMI—doing so could cost you thousands in uncovered medical expenses.
What Damages are You Claiming?
A fair settlement isn’t just about covering medical bills—it should account for every way your injury has impacted your life. Below are the key types of damages you may be entitled to:
1. Medical Expenses
🔹 Past, present, and future medical bills
🔹 Surgeries, rehabilitation, and long-term care
🔹 Assistive devices like wheelchairs or prosthetics
| 💡 Expert Insight: Future medical expenses can become harder to prove if you settle too soon. Your lawyer may work with medical experts to estimate the true cost of long-term care. |
2. Lost Earnings & Reduced Earning Capacity
If your injury keeps you out of work, you can claim compensation for lost wages. However, if your injury permanently affects your ability to work, you may also be entitled to compensation for future lost income.
| 💡 Real-World Example: A 30-year-old construction worker with a severe back injury might lose decades of earning potential. An experienced lawyer will work with vocational experts to calculate these losses. |
3. Pain & Suffering
Unlike medical expenses, pain and suffering are harder to quantify. These damages include:
🔹 Chronic pain and discomfort
🔹 Emotional distress, PTSD, or anxiety
🔹 Loss of enjoyment of life
Since these damages are subjective, our attorneys often use medical records, psychological evaluations, and testimony from loved ones to strengthen the claim.
4. Disfigurement or Permanent Disability
If your accident left you with scarring, amputations, or permanent disabilities, these damages may apply.
| 💡 Legal Note: Severe facial scarring or loss of a limb often results in higher compensation due to the significant impact on quality of life. |
5. Punitive Damages (If Applicable)
In cases of outrageous negligence, such as drunk driving, you may be awarded punitive damages. These are meant to punish the defendant and deter similar behavior.
In Georgia Law most cases, punitive damages are capped at $250,000—but DUI-related accidents have no cap.
Following is a description of some of the damages you might claim:
- Medical expenses: Estimated medical expenses can increase exponentially and yet become more difficult to prove if you will incur most of them in the future (after your claim is resolved).
- Lost earnings: Lost earnings are most controversial when they involve claims of permanent occupational disability, especially if you are young.
- Pain and suffering: “Pain and suffering” is an inherently intangible element of damages. Nevertheless, people collect pain and suffering damages quite frequently, and they often amount to the greater portion of a personal injury claim.
- Deformity, if the accident left you disfigured. Extensive facial scarring is likely to qualify, for example.
- Punitive damages: You can seek punitive damages if the defendant’s behavior was outrageous. With a couple of exceptions, Georgia caps punitive damages at $250,000 (DUI accidents are an example of a claim that places no limits on punitive damages).
- Wrongful death damages: Certain relatives and dependants of a deceased injury victim can seek wrongful death damages. These damages are calculated differently than ordinary personal injury damages.
The more money you demand, the longer it is likely to take to settle your claim. Most defendants are willing to spend a lot more time and effort fighting a large potential liability than a small one.
How Well Can You (or Your Lawyer) Negotiate?
Insurance adjusters negotiate personal injury claims for a living, and so do lawyers in the legal departments of large corporations. If you are handling your own claim, they are likely to make short work of you. That means your settlement will come quickly, but it will probably be woefully inadequate.
When balancing concerns of settlement speed vs. settlement amount, your best bet is to ask your lawyer to handle negotiations for you. An experienced personal injury lawyer is a professional personal injury claims negotiator with no motivation to drag out negotiations any longer than necessary.
Do You Need to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
There are three main reasons why injury victims file personal injury lawsuits even though they plan to settle their cases:
- To get the attention of a foot-dragging opposing party;
- To beat the statute of limitations deadline; or
- To gain access to the court-supervised discovery process for obtaining evidence that is in the defendant’s possession.
We’ll discuss these factors below.
The Discovery Process
The discovery process gives you (and your opposing party) four major weapons to obtain evidence from the other party:
- Depositions: Out-of-court but under-oath testimony by witnesses and potential witnesses.
- Interrogatories: Written questions that the opposing party must answer under oath.
- Requests for documents and other evidence such as police reports and medical records. This power extends beyond documentation; you might demand to inspect an at-fault driver’s car, for example.
- Requests for admissions: You might ask the opposing party to admit some relatively inconsequential fact that you don’t want to bother proving. A case can be greatly simplified if both parties cooperate in providing admissions.
You can use evidence that you obtained through discovery, either at trial or at the bargaining table.
Will the Defendant Insist on a Trial?
Some defendants will “play chicken” with you by refusing to settle even as a trial date is looming. Some are bluffing, but others are not. Although only a few personal injury claims reach the trial stage, you cannot simply assume that the defendant is bluffing.
Fortunately, our firm enjoys rich experience winning at trial. Not very many defendants (or insurance companies) relish meeting us in court. If you do end up in court, remember – you can reach a settlement all the way up to the moment that the jury announces the verdict.
| 💡 Personal Injury Lawyer Legal Insight: In some Georgia courts, trial dates are scheduled quickly, while in Atlanta, backlogs can cause delays. This means a metro-area case could take much longer than one in a rural county. |
Do You Need to Appeal?
Even if you lose at trial, you might be able to re-open settlement negotiations by threatening to appeal. If you have strong grounds for appeal, this strategy might actually work. It will also take more time. Without solid grounds for appeal, however, this approach will not work.
How Long Will It Take to Collect Your Money?
A settlement is just a number until you actually collect the money. If the defendant refuses to pay after signing a settlement agreement, you can initiate a breach of contract lawsuit that could ultimately result in a court seizure of the defendant’s assets.
Our lawyers ensure payment happens on time, so you aren’t left chasing what’s rightfully yours.
A Good Personal Injury Lawyer Can Expedite Your Claim Without Settling for Less
You may or may not need a lawyer for a small personal injury claim. For a larger claim, however, legal representation is essential. Most personal injury law firms offer a free consultation, so feel free to reach out about your case.