“How long will my case take to settle?”
That’s the question all victims ask their Utah personal injury lawyer at The Garner Law Firm.
There are many answers to the question:
- If out-of-court settlement negotiations are successful, the case can be resolved soon – within 2 or 3 months from the date of the accident.
- If mutual negotiations are unsuccessful, the case goes to trial. Once it goes to trial, its length depends on the strength of the evidence available, the seriousness of the personal injury, and the impact it had on the victim’s quality of life. If the case is compelling and simple enough, it can be resolved in a few months. Otherwise, it can take as long as several years.
In either of these situations, it is in every victim’s best interest to get in touch with a Utah personal injury attorney at White and Garner as soon as possible and start the legal process. The attorneys charge fees on a contingency basis, so the victims/plaintiffs have nothing to lose by acting early.
Here is how the legal process goes:
1. Attorney Meetings
Clients need to work together with their attorney to discuss the evidence collected, source the uncollected evidence, tie up any loose ends, create a strategy, and build a case. This can take a long time because the evidence must be complete and strong.
2. Filing the Complaint
After building the case, the attorney lodges a complaint with the defendant and with the court. The complaint details the facts of the case, and the amount of relief sought by the defendant.
Defendants typically get 21 days to file a reply in response to the allegations, along with their defenses.
3. Discovery of Evidence
The court then allows time to both plaintiff and defendant to discover additional evidence that bolsters their claims. The process allows attorneys on both sides to present interrogatories to the opposing parties. Both parties get 28 days to respond.
Attorneys can also request documents from the opposing party to inspect them and see whether they back their evidence. This process includes examining witness statements too.
Attorneys from either side are also allowed to interview (the deposition) witnesses or the opposing party under oath.
The attorneys can also use an expert’s help to decipher the finer points contained in the evidence. The defendant’s attorney can also request for a defense medical professional to evaluate the plaintiff’s compensation claim.
4. The Settlement Conference
Attorneys of opposing sides are then directed to hold pre-trial conferences in the presence of the judge and discuss issues that need to be resolved during the pre-trial process, or to try and settle the case. The lawyers also estimate a timeline for the lawsuit if the case cannot be settled.
5. Refer to Mediation
If both parties agree, the case can be referred to an ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) mechanism. In this process, both attorneys discuss the case in the presence of a mediator and specify to what extent they are willing to go to resolve it.
6. Filing Motions
If the mediation process does not work out, the case goes to trial, and the Utah personal injury attorneys from both sides then file requests (motions) that ask the court to okay or deny one or more actions that the opposing party intends to take.
7. Settlement Offers
Though a settlement offer can be presented by either party at any time during the trial, it works best at the beginning of the trial in cases when neither party is sure of the outcome.
8a. Jury Trial
If everything else fails, the case goes to trial. Both attorneys present their side of the case and the jury hands out the verdict.
Know that the attorneys on the opposing sides are allowed to exclude a juror without assigning a reason (peremptory challenge) or by assigning reasons (a challenge for a cause).
8b. Bench Trial
The plaintiff can waive his right to have a trial by jury, especially in cases where it is evident that the defendant is liable for damages, or when the case is complex. In such a case, the judge decides the case, and everything else remains the same.
