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If you or somebody you love has been injured due to the careless or negligent actions of another person, company, or entity, you may be entitled to various types of compensation for your losses. However, securing this compensation is not always easy. The total time it takes for a personal injury lawsuit to reach a successful conclusion will vary, and many factors can influence the timeline of these cases. The following factors will all influence how long a personal injury lawsuit in Kentucky will take.
One of the most important aspects to keep in mind if you need to file a personal injury lawsuit in Kentucky is the statute of limitations. Each state is allowed to set a time limit on how long injury victims have to file a lawsuit against an alleged negligent party. In Kentucky, the statute of limitations for personal injury claims is one year after the date that the incident occurs. If an injury victim fails to file a personal injury claim within this one-year window, they will lose the ability to recover any compensation for their losses.
Personal injury lawsuits in Kentucky can become complicated, and you should certainly have your case reviewed by a skilled attorney. Most experienced Lexington personal injury attorneys offer free initial consultations for these cases and can help determine whether or not the claim should be pursued.
If you do decide to pursue a case, then the next step will be an investigation. During this phase of the process, your attorney will use their resources to gather as much evidence as possible to prove the other party’s liability. This includes:
The investigation is to determine who really caused the accident and which party should be held liable. This process can take some time, but it is necessary in order to ensure you receive maximum compensation.
Your attorney will work with economic experts to property calculate your total losses and send a demand letter to the at-fault party and their insurers to pay the full amount. The defendants in the case can either accept and pay in full, counter the offer with a lower amount, or outright deny the demands. Most personal injury claims are settled by this point in the process and do not go to court.
If the other party denies the demand or does not offer a reasonable settlement, your attorney will file a lawsuit on your behalf. The first step after filing the lawsuit will be the discovery process, which is where you and the defendant exchange facts and evidence of the case with one another. During this process, both sides can depose witnesses and request that the other party produce certain documents.
After the discovery process has been completed, and if a settlement has still not been reached, then a trial date will be set. Trials, when they occur, can last anywhere from a few days or up to a few weeks. Again, Kentucky personal injury cases are typically resolved before a trial occurs, which means less time between the injury date and a settlement.