Steps of a Personal Injury Lawsuit: Timeline Explained
If you’ve been injured in an accident that was not your fault and are planning to file a personal injury lawsuit, you may be wondering what happens during the process. The first thing to do is take a deep breath and realize that you are not alone. Being involved in an accident is upsetting and scary. It is particularly scary when you are in pain, worried about putting food on the table, and/or being able to take care of yourself or your family. You are not alone. We can help. In this article, we will walk you through a sample of a personal injury timeline from beginning to end.
You’ll understand what to do immediately after your accident, what topics you may discuss with your attorney during the initial stages, what happens during the lawsuit, and other essential information to better help you 1) understand what is happening with your case and 2) anticipate next steps.
The personal injury process begins when you have injuries from an accident in which another party was legally responsible. While getting medical care for your injuries, you can also pursue compensation to cover the cost of your medical bills and other damages. What should be a simple process is often complicated by insurers seeking every possible way to get out of paying you what you deserve.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- What Should You Do Immediately After an Accident?
- What Will Happen in My Meeting With a Personal Injury Attorney?
- What Does a Personal Injury Attorney Do After an Accident?
- Stages of a Personal Injury Lawsuit
- How Likely Is a Trial?
- How Much Does an Attorney Cost to Retain?
- Free Legal Consultation
What Should You Do Immediately After an Accident?
Immediately after an accident in which you were hurt, you must focus on getting a medical evaluation and treatment. Early treatment is best for two reasons: firstly, you minimize the potential medical complications. Secondly, you start the paper trail that you will need to get compensation for the injuries you suffer. One of the things that must be proved in a personal injury lawsuit is that your injuries are caused by the accident. If you do not report your injuries promptly to a medical doctor promptly after an accident you will have a more difficult time proving your case.
What Will Happen in My Meeting With a Personal Injury Attorney?
A personal injury attorney has many roles to play throughout your claim. To be your advocate, your attorney needs to get to know you. Every person is unique, and every person’s pain is different. Our team does our very best to get to know you and your family from the moment of our first meeting until the end of your case. Your story is yours alone. For us to persuade an insurance company or a jury, we need to know as much about you as possible. Communication is the key to every good relationship and an attorney-client relationship is no exception to this rule. Some attorneys send non-attorney investigators to have initial client meetings. Block O’Toole & Murphy will never do this. You will meet at least one attorney at your first meeting, usually more than one attorney. You will also meet the paralegal assigned to your case.
Any strong and experienced attorney is also an excellent listener. Your attorney will ask you several important questions, such as:
- What kind of incident was it? The appropriate way to pursue your claim will depend on the type of accident. For instance, a commercial vehicle accident will require different resources than a pedestrian accident. A bicycle struck by a car will need a different strategy from a construction accident. The facts of every case are unique and important. It is imperative that your lawyer not give your case a “one size fits all” approach. Facts matter. Witness statements need to be gathered early — before the individuals disappear. If a video of your accident exists, it must be obtained immediately before someone destroys or misplaces it. An attorney who hesitates loses! Experience and expertise matters.
- How is your recovery going? How are you feeling physically and emotionally from head to toe? What type of medical doctors are you seeing? What are their credentials? Have they been sued for medical malpractice? Are they listening to you and treating you with proper respect? Does your doctor speak your language or has staff that does? If you have already been treated by doctors, that means you’re starting to receive bills from the various medical providers. Getting medical bills can be terrifying when you are not able to work due to injuries or have no health insurance. Your attorney needs to know what resources are available to you under the law. The lawyer’s job is to take stress away from you and show you the path forward.
- What have you said to the insurance company? If you’ve never experienced dealing with an insurance company as an adversary, there is a chance that you may have said something the insurer can use against you. This can happen when you’re in a disoriented state after the accident or when you don’t fully understand the extent of your injuries. It can also be the result of inexperience. The less you say, the better, but if you have talked to your insurer, you must inform your attorney of what you said so they can plan accordingly. One of the first words of advice we give to our new clients is that they should only discuss the accident with their doctor and our attorneys and staff. Sadly, not everyone is trying to help you and your words can make it more difficult to have a successful lawsuit.
- What do you need? Much of any personal injury case revolves around a conflict over your needs. You believe you need something; the insurance company may contend that you do not need that. Your attorney’s job is to persuasively advocate for what you need. The insurance companies have a vested interest in not paying your medical bills and giving you as little money as possible for your compensation. We at Block O’Toole & Murphy fight for you and you alone. You are our priority.
What Does a Personal Injury Attorney Do After an Accident?
The exact sequence in the personal injury lawsuit timeline is not always “go to the hospital after an injury, call attorney, file claim, receive compensation.” Sometimes, the order can be mixed up a bit. Sometimes, a person may call an attorney before seeing a doctor; sometimes, people file a claim before contacting an attorney.
Ideally, you contact an attorney as soon as possible after an injury. That is because your attorney’s experience will allow them to take the lead on the legal side of your case early. This means they will:
- Investigate the accident: You may have a great deal of information for your attorney, but if they handle the investigation from the start, they have the experience and know-how to gather the information they need effectively. They know what information makes the most significant impact, and they can find it more easily. Our firm investigators are experts at what they do. Very often we have video footage of an accident in our hands within hours of the accident. Surveillance cameras are very common today. Such footage is a high priority.
- Speaking with insurance: you should not speak to insurance companies for the companies or individuals who have done you harm. You are under no duty to talk to them. Your attorney at Block O’Toole & Murphy will guide you through this unfamiliar territory. We are taught as children to be polite and answer questions. These manners are not a good idea after an accident.
- Filing a lawsuit: Insurance companies do not want to pay fair value on your claims. They are in the business of paying as little as possible for your compensation. We have the exact opposite mission. Cases rarely settle early on for the fair number. It may be necessary to file a lawsuit to ensure you receive what you deserve for your injuries. This can be nerve-wracking for someone who has not been involved in a lawsuit. An experienced lawyer will explain every step of the process to you and make sure you are comfortable with what’s happening.
The law firm of Block O’Toole & Murphy is recognized for landmark verdicts and settlements, including $110 million and $32 million jury verdicts in serious personal injury cases. Our attorneys offer free legal consultations to accident victims. Call 212-736-5300 or fill out our Contact Form to speak with an experienced lawyer. We serve New York and New Jersey.
Stages of a Personal Injury Lawsuit
A personal injury lawsuit can be lengthy – sometimes lasting years. This is where a court examines the questions surrounding your accident, your injuries, and what you deserve for your recovery. There are five phases to a personal injury lawsuit. The experience level of your attorney can have a huge impact on how long your case takes. The attorneys at Block O’Toole & Murphy collectively have hundreds of years of experience in handling cases just like yours. There is no learning curve for our attorneys. We have done it all.
Discovery
The discovery process comes before anything else in a lawsuit heading to trial. In discovery, both parties’ representation will exchange information. The key to the success of your case is knowing what to ask for and not accepting “No” for an answer. We at Block O’Toole & Murphy have seen it all, including Defendants that purposely hid or destroyed evidence. We carefully prepare our discovery demands and make sure that the defendants give full and accurate responses.
The goal of an extensive, thorough discovery is to place both sides on an even footing. However, this sharing of information does not extend to legal strategy. So, while each side details exactly what they have, they typically don’t share what they will say or how they will say it. At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we do not handle cases as if they are all the same. We treat every person we represent as an individual, and each case is pursued individually. We keep our case counts low so that every case and every person we represent gets the individual attention they deserve.
Negotiation And Mediation
Many civil cases in New York eventually end up in mediation. While mediation is nonbinding, mediation often is the first step toward getting your case settled for the right amount of money.
Mediation can often resemble a mini trial. We prepare for mediations like we are going to trial. The defense can tell from our presentation that we are ready to try your case anytime, anyplace, anywhere. We often walk out on mediations to demonstrate the strength of our resolve.
Pretrial Motions
Before the trial begins in earnest, your legal team and the insurance’s defense team will trade motions before a judge. These are rulings on the various evidence and questioning that may or may not be appropriate at trial. Block O’Toole & Murphy makes many motions in limine (raise issues to be ruled on before the case can proceed) to protect our clients and make their trial as fair as possible for them. We often request assignment to trial judges before jury selection so that our pretrial motions are decided before we select a jury. Our level of preparation for a trial is unmatched.
Pretrial motions are a way to set the rules of engagement for the larger trial. These motions may have an enormous impact on a trial. Often the insurance defense team will use motions to remove video or photographic evidence from the trial. Your attorney will counter each of these motions to defend your side of the story.
Trial
The trial is what happens inside the courtroom. Here are further points that you will want to understand:
- Jury selection: Each party’s team gets to remove possible jurors from the pool for cause or without cause. They get to ask jurors questions to determine whether the person would be sympathetic or not to the case. We take as long as we need to get the best jury for our clients. We have often questioned hundreds of jurors to select a jury of six people.
- Opening statements: Each party presents their perspective on the accident injury to the court and the jury. This sets the stage for the entire trial. At Block O’Toole & Murphy, we open BIG. Our pretrial preparation allows us to make opening statements with hundreds of exhibits already in evidence. Preparation counts!
- Witnesses: Each side makes its case before the court via witness testimony and the presentation of evidence designed to sway the jury. The plaintiff presents first, followed by the defense. Each side gets to cross-examine witnesses. We don’t hope for the best at Block O’Toole & Murphy; we prepare for success.
- Closing statements: Here is the summation point of the trial, where the legal teams attempt to present their reasoning and hit home on the evidence that matters in their case. Transcripts of our summations are often requested from other law firms that seek to emulate our success.
Verdict And Appeal
Upon completion of the trial – provided you do not reach a settlement during the trial – the jury will return with a verdict. In New York, it is common for the jury to come back with a verdict over fault; for example, they may find that the other driver was indeed responsible for your injury. Then, once the jury determines fault, the sides may present more evidence to determine damages.
However, verdicts and damages are not yet final as the “losing” side has an opportunity to pursue an appeal. The appeals process for a personal injury claim can be arduous, but you will not have to go through it alone.
How Likely Is a Trial?
It is a fact that trials over any accident or personal injury are far more likely to end in a settlement than an actual verdict. While negotiations often start before the trial, they don’t end just because a case goes to court. In some rare occasions, defendants and plaintiffs reach settlements while the jury is in deliberations. Settlements vastly speed up the process of compensation for you and are often less expensive for insurers. If you and your legal team settle at any point in the personal injury process, from initial conversations to during the trial or even during jury deliberations, you have achieved your goal.
However, just because settlements are more common than verdicts doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare for taking a personal injury matter as far as you can. A personal injury attorney must prepare every case as if they are taking it to a verdict. Doing so shows the insurance company that they cannot “low-ball” an offer to you.
With a trial-ready attorney behind you, your personal injury case gets the attention it – and you – deserve.
How Much Does an Attorney Cost to Retain?
In most cases, personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee agreement. A contingency fee is a promise to pursue a claim for as long as necessary for a percentage of the total final award. Attorney fees are often calculated as part of the damages in some trials.
This contingency basis allows any person who has suffered from an injury the opportunity to find an attorney to represent them. Additionally, most personal injury attorneys offer each new client a free legal consultation.
This attorney fee structure is essential in the personal injury lawsuit process. As the health care and treatment system moved toward a privatized insurance model, insurers began to take steps to minimize their payouts for accidents. People were saddled with bills they couldn’t afford.
Personal injury attorneys serve an important place in holding insurers to their agreements. They use their understanding of the law on behalf of people with few options, mounting bills, and no way to pay them.
Free Legal Consultation
If you have received an injury from any car accident, construction accident, slip and fall or other accident caused by another party’s negligence, you do not need to feel alone. With the information available to you, you can make an informed decision about your next step.
Our firm is one of the most successful in New York. Since 2012, our team of attorneys has returned with more outcomes exceeding $1 million than any other firm in the state. We pride ourselves on aggressive, attentive service because it gives our clients and our cases a significant edge. We have recovered nearly two billion dollars for our clients.
Our attorneys are all highly qualified and skilled in all aspects of New York and New Jersey personal injury law. We take pride in tackling all types of cases, no matter their difficulty and complexity.
When we take on a case, we treat our clients as they deserve to be treated; we are careful and caring and tough. Learn more about our track record of success by visiting our Verdicts and Settlements page. You can also reach our firm by calling 212-736-5300 or using this online form.