A serious accident can leave no doubt about the victims’ need for compensation. Whether that be compensation for injuries or for property damage, the process of seeking the desired payment follows an established timeline.
Proofs to be presented by plaintiff:
• Proof that the other party caused the accident
• Proof of the claimed extent of the damage resulting from the same accident.
Possible scenarios: Those that are most likely.
Dispute resolved before initiation of lawsuit. This scenario can be expected if both parties agree on what happened. The at-fault driver must have insurance. The plaintiff still needs to produce the available evidence. The disputed facts could become clear during discovery. For instance, it could become apparent that the plaintiff has been guilty of contributory negligence. In that case, the defendant might feel motivated to settle. This sequence of events could take between 6 and 12 months.
The mediation shows the strengths and weaknesses of each side’s arguments. The mediator indicates the most likely outcome at a trial, if one were held. That suggestion might push one side to settle. No one can predict the size of the award given to the plaintiff by a judge and jury.
The Personal Injury Attorneys in Lompoc and Los Banos for both sides reach an agreement during the pre-trial conference. That could happen, if the mediator has narrowed sufficiently the number of issues disputed by the 2 parties. A trial is held. Depending on how long the courtroom proceedings last, a decision might not be made until 2 years after the incident that initiated the lawsuit.
Factors that could increase the amount of time required for reaching any point on the timeline:
If the plaintiff has a pre-existing condition, that could add to the amount of time required for negotiations to proceed. It might force postponement of a decision until the discovery. If one victim is a child, the statute of limitations would not start until a legal guardian had been appointed. That would delay creation of the timeline’s starting point.
Factors that could decrease the amount of time required for reaching any point on the timeline:
The plaintiff might assume that because the driver had no injuries, and no adult passengers had injuries, no child in the damaged vehicle got hurt. Yet that could be an incorrect assumption. It could push the plaintiff to settle at an early stage.
A plaintiff might have time to introduce evidence that supports claims of injury to a child passenger. The insurance might accuse the driver of contributory negligence. Still, failure to produce evidence of the child’s injury could mean a settlement during discovery. That would shorten the timeline, but it would also deprive the plaintiff of the chance to receive a fair compensation.