The individual that has been injured in an accident often seeks information on the amount of time required for reaching a settlement. Once disputing parties have settled their case, the injured victim can expect compensation. Receipt of that compensation package helps with the victim’s recovery of all the incurred costs.
Steps leading to settlement of a personal injury case
All of the individuals involved in the accident should seek medical attention, just as soon as possible. Any injured victim should contact an injury lawyer in St. Albert & Spruce Grove. The client-lawyer team ought to work together, in order to compose a demand letter.
Within a span of 30 to 60 days, the injured victim, aided by an attorney, should file a personal injury claim and serve the defendant. During the next 30 days, the client-lawyer team must await the defendant’s response. During that same 30-day period, the disputing parties could start to negotiate, in hopes of reaching a settlement.
If the negotiations failed to hasten arrival of the time when the disputing parties had settled their differences, a discovery session would be scheduled. Understand that the negotiations do not stop after the scheduled discovery session has started. The 2 sides can keep negotiating, even as each side’s attorney takes part in the session’s dispositions.
What factors might make the 2 parties more likely to settle?
Sometimes certain facts that get revealed during the discovery session help to hasten arrival of the time when the 2 parties agree to settle. Sometimes, it becomes clear that the defendant was negligent. If that happens, then the defendant has slight reason to prolong the dispute.
For example, it could be that the defendant’s attorney had not learned the exact reason for the client’s failure to prevent an injury-causing collision. Then, during discovery, the plaintiff’s attorney might introduce a new piece of evidence, such as a list of the calls made on the defendant’s cell phone. That list might show that one call was made during the minutes before the collision.
If the disputing parties have not settled by the end of the discovery session, the case moves on to the litigation stage. That does not mean that the plaintiff must abandon hopes of settling, and await the end of the trial, in order to receive any financial assistance.
Negotiations can continue, as the trial progresses. A settlement might become a reality at any point during the trial. In fact, the judge might even agree to set aside a time when the 2 sides could decide on the terms for the settlement. Judges do not insist that a trial must continue until the jury has read the verdict. Judges have no qualms about allowing the settlement’s replacement of a court’s ruling.