If you or someone in your family experiences a brain injury because of the fault or negligence of another party, you have the right to file a compensation claim. However, if you face ongoing health issues and financial costs, you likely have an important question – how long will it take to settle your brain injury claim?
This question is only natural since you may be out of work and struggling financially. Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to this question. While this is true, hiring a South Dakota personal injury lawyer can help you better understand what factors will affect your claim and how this will impact how long it takes to settle.
Something to remember is that any type of personal injury claim takes time. You have many stages to go through, and your personal injury lawyer will work to negotiate a fair settlement, which also takes time. Also, it is considered a more complex area of personal injury law when it comes to brain injury claims. Because of this, settling your claim can take longer than other types of injuries that occur.
Hiring a brain injury attorney to help with your case means you have someone representing your interests and who knows when a claim needs to be filed, the evidence that must be proven, and how to handle the negotiation process.
There is also some information that will help you better understand the timeline of your claim. Keep reading to find out what that is.
When to File Your Brain Injury Claim
You need to make sure that you don’t run out of time to file your South Dakota brain injury claim. This means you need to file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations passes, which is three years from the time of the injury. However, when it comes to brain injury cases, you want to make sure you don’t file your lawsuit too soon because you may not know the full scope of your injury, which means you may not get the full amount of compensation you deserve.
What You Must Prove in Your Brain Injury Claim
In most situations, before filing a brain injury claim, your attorney will work behind the scenes to ensure you can prove your case and that it is clear who was at fault for your injury. This process typically includes:
Evidence That Shows Negligence
Some of the evidence that will help prove negligence in a brain injury case include police reports, witness statements, and surveillance footage. These are all things that your attorney will gather on your behalf. Once these things are acquired, they will work to reconstruct the accident to show how the accused party is at-fault for your brain injury.
Evidence of Your Losses
You can’t file a personal injury claim for a brain injury unless you know the financial burden that the accident and injury have caused. Some of the factors that determine this include medical treatment needs, lost wages, and other types of financial losses that you experience.
Restoration of Your Health
Before you file your claim, you need to have a complete prognosis from your doctor or health care team. This is to ensure that you know the full and long-term impact of the brain injury. If you don’t have this, there’s no way to know what your claim is really worth. That’s because you won’t know the extent or impact of your injury.
When it comes to brain injuries, your health and recovery can take time. It’s only after your doctor has stated that you have reached a point where your health has stabilized that your attorney can determine the true value of your claim. It is at this time that your attorney would be confident that they know what your claim is worth and ready to negotiate for a settlement.
The Unpredictable Nature of Brain Trauma
In many cases, traumatic brain injuries or TBIs occur in car accidents, assaults, and slip and fall accidents; however, there are many other potential causes. The fact is these types of injuries are extremely unpredictable. This is because there are so many factors that can impact your recovery. Some of the factors that will be considered include:
Age of the Victim
For older individuals, it may take more time to fully recover from brain injuries. In some situations, a victim will never recover completely.
The severity of the Injury
A traumatic brain injury can range from mild to severe. If you have experienced a TBI, you may be back to normal within a few weeks after resting and then go back to your normal life. However, other TBIs cause long-term care, which includes around-the-clock nursing aides.
Your Health Before the Accident
In some situations, the victim’s health before the accident that caused the TBI injury will impact their recovery. The access they had to immediate medical care plays a factor in recovery, too.
It’s smart to find and hire an attorney who has prior experience working on these types of cases. This is going to help ensure that you get the best possible representation for your situation and get the best chance possible to recover the compensation you deserve for your injury.
Determining the Timeline for Your Brain Injury Claim
As you can see, there are several factors that will impact how long it takes to settle your brain injury claim. It’s important to remain patient and don’t accept a settlement too soon, as it may not reflect the long-term costs of the injury. Working with an experienced brain injury attorney will benefit you, as well, as they will be able to give you a better idea of how long the claim process should take.
Our legal team will provide you with the quality representation you need to ensure you get the most compensation possible for your brain injury. We are here to help you with each step of the legal process. The first step is to get in touch and schedule a free consultation with our attorney.