Overall Time Frames of Utah Car Accident Injury Claims.
Here is the basic overview and timelines of a Provo, UT car accident injury claim from start-to-finish.
Start-to-Finish Timelines. Small to More Severe Injury Cases.
Every injury client always ask how long their injury claim will take.
It depends on three issue:
(1). How hurt are you? The more severely hurt, the longer it will take generally.
(2). Have you reached full recovery? This is called reaching Maximum Medical Improvement.
(3). Do you have file a lawsuit? If you have to file a lawsuit the case will take much, much longer.
Small Injury Cases. 3-4 Months. Smaller car accident cases were the injured party fully recovers and fast can be start-to-finish 3-4 months. This is rare. When the case concludes it depends on the injuries and how well the person recovers—or reaches “maximum medical improvement.”
Average Cases. 1 Year or Less. Injuries that take a while to heal and for the injured person to reach maximum medical improvement can easily take up to a year to settle.
Litigated Cases. Filed Lawsuits. 1 Year Plus. Car accident cases where a lawsuit is filed to obtain fair and adequate compensation can easily take over 1 year to complete. You first go through the entire claims prefiling process. Then you start the clock with litigation, which is easily a year.
Common Milestones in a Car Accident Injury Claim in Provo, UT 84606
(1). Date of Car Accident.
After the dust settles and you are out of the hospital or see the physical therapist, it is time to call a Provo, UT car accident attorney. Don’t call a general practice attorney, but a Provo attorney who really works car accident injury cases. Not some part-timer who does Bankruptcy and then a little bit of divorce and then your car accident. You want a car accident attorney that really handles a lot of car accident insurance claims. 
(2). Treatment. Reaching Maximum Medical Improvement (“MMI”).
The most important part of a Utah car accident injury claim is for the injured party to make a good run at getting better. A good car accident lawyer will know how to help the injured party get the medical care they need to get better. Getting the care can be on a lien basis, using PIP benefits or using private health care insurance.
Maximum Medical Improvement (“MMI”) means that you have reached the fullest recovery you are going to get. Sometimes when you reach MMI you are fully recovered and back to baseline, other times you reach MMI, but still have physical impairments. Normally the doctors states your injuries are permeant or have they have done everything they can do and nothing else will improve your injury.
Premature Settlement Dangers. Reaching MMI on small cases can take 3-4 months, but on most cases it can be nearly a year. The dangers of settlement prior to reaching MMI is that you don’t know what the true extend of your injuries. So settling today, when you may need back surgery in 3 months would be foolish.
Monitoring Treatment. After a car accident it is critical that you get the right doctor diagnosing and treating your injuries. One job of the injury attorney is overseeing and monitoring your medical care. Not making medicals, but always looking out for overtreatment or inappropriate treatment.
Inappropriate Treatment. If you have a chiropractor treating your head injury, that is a problem. If you have a foot doctor dealing with your elbow injury, that is a problem. Having the right doctor diagnose and treat your injuries is critical to documenting your injury case for fair and adequate compensation.
(3). Demand Letter. Once you have reached maximum medical improvement you send off a demand letter to the liability insurance carrier asking for money damages. Demand letters contain all the necessary medical records, billing records, investigative records and property damage documentation. Insurance carriers normally respond to demand letters within 30 days once they have all the necessary information to make an offer.
(4). Negotiate and Settlement. The back-and-forth negotiations of settling your Provo, UT car accident case happen after the demand letter is sent. Pre-lawsuit negotiations should last around three weeks and you should settle the case or file a lawsuit. There is no reason to mess around and delay during the negotiation phase. Either you settle the case, or you file suit. 
(5). File a Lawsuit if Needed. When negotiations break down you must accept the insurance company’s offer or file a lawsuit. Lawsuits themselves take nearly one year to reach the jury. Most civil personal injury cases never reach the jury.
If you hire an incompetent attorney who has never tried a car accident jury trial in their life you will get inferior results. The insurance companies and insurance defense attorneys know which injury attorney will go all the way and try a jury and which ones always fold.