How Long Does a Motorcycle Accident Lawsuit Take?

According to the Insurance Information Institute there approximately 85,000 people injured in motorcycle crashes each year. This equates to approximately 1% of all registered motorcycles meaning 1 in 100 motorcycle owners will be injured each year in an accident. Typically, motorcycle riders sustain serious injuries after an accident compared to a driver of a car for obvious reasons. The serious injuries can lead to great financial loss so it is understandable why the motorcycle rider would want to pursue an injury claim after an accident if they were not at fault.

Most injury claims at our office take about 1 year to settle. During that time period, much of the delay is due to the fact that we allow the case to “ripen” or “mature” prior to entering settlement negotiations. It’s important to allow the injured party to follow up with medical treatment and track their progress over a period of at least 6 months. This way we have a full understanding of the severity of the injury and have extensive medical documentation to back it up. If we are unable to reach an amicable settlement after negotiations, we file a lawsuit. This process can take another 1-2 years to resolve.

The Complete Analysis Of The Damages:

In this process, you need to enlist everything that you lost due to the motorcycle accident. These points are important because they help you in settling the case. The attorney will guide you in gathering all the important documents that state the financial, physical and emotional losses along with perfectly defined evidence. Along with all other documents, you may also add testimony from medical, vocational, and economic experts.

These documents and testimony will help in building a foundation to recover your money compensation claim.

• You need to provide all the medical costs post motorcycle accident

• The wages or salary you lost while taking leave from work

• The physical injuries you had to endure due to the motorcycle accident.

• The mental and emotional suffering you had to go through.

• The damage incurred to the vehicle.

These are some of the most common forms of compensation claims which are rightfully available to the motorcycle accident.

All these things may take around 2 to 3 months to cover up. Another aspect that will influence the time of the lawsuit is – constant negotiation with the insurance company:

Insurance Company Negotiation:

Although, you have gathered all the legal documents and also submitted them. Now is the time to submit these essential documents to the insurance company as well. They will check all the documents and help in moving ahead with the proceeding. Along with the documents, you must send out a letter that will include proper information such as:

• A statement of your injuries

• Your future prognosis

• A breakdown of your costs

• How much you are demanding

• A deadline by which the insurer must respond

This stage is very important because the attorney has already begun settlement negotiations on your behalf. The proceeding may reach the next step when the insurance company also focuses on the claims and may counter back-and-forth. For this process, there is no set timeline and you will have to wait.

At this stage, there can be two possibilities, either the party from whom you have asked for the compensation accepts and wishes to settle the case or they can refuse the claims. If the party wants to settle the case, you will get your financial compensation from the insurance company and the lawsuit final documents would be completed within a couple of days. But if the party refuses the claims, then the case goes to court. When the case goes to court for trial there is no specific deadline when the lawsuit would resolve. The court trial will definitely extend to the time of the lawsuit and even the attorney would not be able to estimate the right time required for the judgement to be announced.

Summary:

If you are the victim of the motorcycle accident and wished to file a lawsuit against the party who was responsible for the accident, then your first priority should be to consult the attorney. They will guide you in filing the lawsuit, gathering evidence, and also receive compensation for your financial losses.

Visits: 0