Utah personal injury insurance claims or litigated personal injury lawsuits take time. Short cases takes 3-4 months. Litigated lawsuits can take years. Generally most injury cases are resolved within one year.
Here is what you can expect from Utah Injury Jake Gunter while your injury case is being processed. Both behind the scenes and with you.
(1). Waiting for Maximum Medical Improvement (“MMI”). 99 percent of the time you can’t settle a Utah personal injury insurance case until you have reached “maximum medical improvement.” It’s a medical term that means you have reached your recovery potential and either you have fully recovered or you will permanent injuries to some extent.
Sometimes when the injuries are severe and the policy limits are low, you can immediately obtain a policy limits settlement even when you have not reached MMI.
Example. Settling Too Early. Imagine you just settled your herniated disc case for $50,000. The very next day your orthopedic surgeon schedules you for surgery. You settled too early because you didn’t wait until you fully reached maximum medical improvement.
Example. Settled Before Physical Therapy was Over. Image you just settled your injury claim for $20,000. The very next day your physical therapist tells you need another 20 sessions of physical therapy costing $3,000 more than what was unaccounted for in the $20,000 settlement.
(2). Your Utah Injury Attorney is Monitoring your Medical Care. You will not know it, but your Utah injury lawyer will be monitoring your medical care in the background. The injury attorney and his staff will be checking to see where the bills are at, how high the bills are, and whether you are about to reach maximum medical improvement. Your attorney is also making sure you are seeing the right type of doctor for the injuries. It is unacceptable to be treated by a foot doctor for your neck pain, or a chiropractor for your knee pain.
(3). Gathering Medical Records. Your attorney and staff is gathering all medical billing records and medical treatment records from all medical providers. Whenever you complete treatment with a provider, the attorney’s office is immediately requesting those records.
It takes time to get medical records. See this timeline article.
(4). Police Report, Medical Payment Ledger, Collision Repair Records. In the background your attorney is gathering all police reports, sometimes the body camera footage, collision repair records and pictures of the cars involved in the collision.
See this article on getting police reports.
(5). Checking In. Ideally your personal injury attorney should be checking in every month or so to see how you are doing. Frequently you should be forwarded all documents gathered on your case.
(6). Lien Checking. In the background your Utah personal injury attorney is calling all medical providers to see what the outstanding balances owed are, and whether they have a personal injury lien that needs to be accounted for during the settlement process. See this popular article on what injury liens are in Utah.
(7). Dealing with Insurance Adjusters. Your Utah injury lawyer will deal directly with the insurance companies. You will never have to talk to an insurance company again.
We help guide you with the adjuster interview. See this article on adjuster interviews and whether you have to given one.
(8). The Demand Letter. Your attorney prepares a demand letter which packages up all the medical records, treatment records, photos, police reports and other relevant documents. This demand letter asks that the insurance company pay money to settle the case.
(9). Settlement Proceeds Distribution. Once the case settles, the attorney distributes all personal injury settlement proceeds in a written document called a settlement summary. The settlement summary describes all bills and costs paid, how much the attorney is paid and how much net settlement the injured party receives.
(10). Communicating with You. Lastly, but most importantly, if your Utah injury attorney is not communicating all these things to you, maybe you should switch attorneys. It is the attorney’s job to educate the client on where they are at and where they are going.