Boat Accident Settlement Timeline

Answer:

When we have clients come to see us about boating accident cases, one of the first things they want to know is how long it’s going to take to resolve their claim. This is hard to determine because the length of time a case may take is very dependent upon several circumstances. Two things that really drive how long a case will take are the significance of the injuries and the amount of insurance coverage available. When an at-fault party has a relatively small amount of insurance coverage and the injured party has very significant medical expenses, the case can often be resolved in a couple of months. When you have a party that has substantially more insurance coverage and the injuries are less extensive, those are the cases that may be more drawn out because the insurance companies will try to fight it.

In Georgia, a personal injury lawsuit — which includes boat accidents — has to be filed within two years of the date of the incident. Once a lawsuit is filed, the case has to go through a discovery process in which you build the facts that support your case, and that can take a while to do. Boating cases can be very heavily fact-intensive, so a good timeline estimate after you file a lawsuit would be one to three years, depending on the severity of the incident and the injuries.