Located in the Inland Empire, San Bernardino is a major transportation hub. The busy highways, warehouses, and construction zones make it one of California’s most common places for serious injuries.
If you or your loved ones have been hurt due to someone’s negligence, partnering with premier injury lawyers in San Bernardino is a smart choice because they know the ins and outs of local jurisdictions, local courts, and how insurers operate around there.
Each personal injury case is unique. You can’t draw a certain timeline here, but most personal injury case timelines are determined by the time you take to reach MMI, the evidence-gathering and investigation process, the demand letter process, the time it takes to negotiate with insurers, and the duration of the lawsuit to settle when it’s necessary.
Stages of Average Personal Injury Cases
1. The Duration of Your Medical Treatment
This is the biggest driver of your personal injury case timeline.
Depending upon how severe a victim’s injuries are, this may take weeks to 2 years at the maximum.
Your attorney will advise you not to settle the case until your maximum medical improvement (MMI)—the point where your condition has fully stabilized.
If you settle before MMI, you won’t know your full medical costs, and your settlement won’t cover the future medical costs.
2. Investigation and Demand Letter
Once you’re near your MMI, you and your attorney start collecting your evidence documents, such as police reports, witness statements, medical records, and expert testimonies.
Then your attorney will send a formal demand letter to insurers, prompting them to pay for your damages.
Insurers typically have 30-45 days to respond. If they negotiate in good faith, many cases can end here.
3. Negotiation with the Insurers
Unfortunately, the insurer’s first offer is almost always low.
Insurance companies may accuse victims of sharing fault in the accident or refuse some of the evidence as incredible, just to reduce the overall settlement.
An attorney will counter these attacks, prove the credibility of the evidence, and emphasize the damages in your case. This just goes back-and-forth for months.
If a fair settlement is reached, the case ends here. If not, the next step is filing a lawsuit, which necessarily doesn’t mean going to trial, but it does mean more time.
4. Litigation Process
When negotiation fails, you enter the litigation process. Here, you have a better chance of getting a fair settlement.
You’ll go through three major steps in the litigation process.
Discovery Phase
Your attorney and insurers will exchange evidence documents. You’ll go through depositions, expert testimonies, and document exchanges. This typically takes 6-18 months.
Mediation Phase
A neutral third-party attorney, retired judge, or trained professional will act as a mediator between your side and the insurance side to resolve the dispute and reach a fair settlement.
Most cases end during or after mediation, before even a trial date is set.
Trial Phase
In a rare scenario, the case can go to court, which may prolong your personal injury case further.
Your attorney will present strong evidence and argue in your favor in front of the judge and jury to get you the settlement you deserve.
What Are the Factors That Prolong Your Case?
- Severe and life-altering injuries that take several months to calculate full medical costs before MMI.
- When disputed liability arises, questioning whether you share fault or when the other side denies fault.
- Multiple defendants with separate insurers.
- Insurance companies acting in bad faith or using tactics to delay your settlement, hoping you accept their lowball offers.
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Key Takeaways
- Most personal injury cases settle in 6 to 18 months, but complex cases can take 3–5 years.
- Never settle before reaching MMI—you won’t know your full medical costs until your condition stabilizes.
- Roughly, most cases settle before trial, usually during negotiation or mediation.
- Insurance companies will dispute fault and delay the process, and your attorney will counter these again and again.
- If negotiation with insurers fails, you’ll go through discovery, deposition, mediation, and even trial, which affects the time it takes to settle your personal injury case.
