3 Frustrating Reasons It's Taking Forever to Secure A Settlement for Your Personal Injury Claim

The injury left you confined to the house. You couldn’t work, experienced pain, and lost a great deal of money in the process. You did your research, submitted a claim, and months have passed without getting a settlement offer. Now you can’t help but wonder if you made an error in the paperwork. Or, worse, there’s a conspiracy in motion.

All may seem lost, but there may be no reason to worry. Here are the frustrating reasons it’s taking longer to secure a settlement for your claim.

1. Extensive medical treatments

Lengthy medical treatments can arise from both minor and serious injuries. If your neighbor kicked you in the knee while intoxicated, knee reconstruction or replacement surgery could take many months to finish. A head or spinal injury resulting from a car crash could take years. You’d be making a mistake by rushing to finalize your claim before the end of your treatment. Additional expenses might remain. Because you left out vital information from your claim, you might not get compensated. So, the reality is, your financial security depends on you waiting.

With lengthy medical treatments, optimism and focus are key. Know that one, as defined in tort law, a civil wrong has been claimed to have been committed by you, the claimant. And two, the civil wrong resulted in legal liability for the person who committed the tortious act. Regardless of how long your treatments take, justice is within your grasp. So, be sure to hang on for a little longer, as it's only in rare cases that it takes more than three years to secure a settlement. For now, make sure you have all of your personal injury-related documents. If not, learn how to go about finding them here.

2. Exhausting insurance claim investigations

Insurance investigators will conduct exhaustive investigations. Their goal is to find and investigate fraud. The truth is, insurance companies don’t want to pay, and even when they should, investigators look for signs that you’re the one at fault. Especially painful are pre-existing conditions which serve as excuses for insurance companies to withhold payment. But aside from the time needed to complete the investigation, you also have to consider the techniques used. Investigators collect and analyze medical documents while taking statements from witnesses. Insurance claim investigations can take longer than expected.

Honesty and integrity are the best ways to earn a settlement from a personal injury claim. A personal injury claim is different than a personal injury lawsuit. With claims, you’re making a legal demand for compensation. The insurance company decides if the compensation should be awarded. But personal injury lawsuits are assertive legal actions. They’re actions taken on your part to get accountability. Here, it's you, the plaintiff who sues the defendant for compensation. In personal injury trials, a judge hears the evidence and rules. Unlike the insurance companies who weigh in on claims. To accelerate the process, use the same trustworthiness you’d use while speaking in court. Dishonest claims will take longer to investigate.

3. Liability disputes

A liability dispute occurs when an insurance company denies responsibility. The insurance company denies responsibility on the part of their insured. Liability disputes are serious headaches, however, what appears obvious to you may seem suspicious to an insurance company. Insurance companies sometimes get the details misinterpreted. When they do, it’s the claimant who often pays the price. For example, if multiple parties are involved in the case, scrutiny regarding liability can fall on you if you weren’t behaving responsibly at the scene. Just like with lengthy medical treatments, liability disputes take both time and investigation to sort out.

Meanwhile, the frustration worsens when blame is placed on the claimant. At this point, staying calm and sticking to your facts are keys to getting through to the settlement phase of a claim. While insurance companies fight to avoid paying out a claim, your patience and sincerity will be rewarded if you’re smart. Be sure to keep accident reports and police-related documents of the incident. An insurance company may need to reach out to an expert or authority figure, so your version of the events must remain accurate. Remember, the faster you resolve the liability dispute, the sooner you move on. Personal injury claims take forever when you don’t stand up and fight.

Wrapping up

Your injury affected your life. The injuries are still costing you money and time. But the energy you used to file a claim was worth it. Sometimes, a long time passes before you get a settlement offer. And often, this makes the process feel like a sham. But having patience alone isn’t enough to make it through a lengthy insurance claim proceeding. You also need awareness of what’s happening in the system. Unfortunately, some insurance companies are sneaky. They want to exhaust all investigative efforts. They want to find a reason to say you’re to blame. So, you need to wait and be proactive. Respond and be truthful. Trust that your personal injury claim will be resolved.

In the meantime, taking care of your health is an important part of putting together an insurance claim to win compensation. Think twice about staying up for all hours stressing over your claim. Now is a good time to read The 3 Catastrophic Health Effects of Living A Hustler's Lifestyle.