Timeline For a Wrongful Death Settlement

Answer:

When we have clients come to see us about wrongful death claims, one of the first things they always ask is how long it will take to resolve their case. The answer to that is it greatly depends on the circumstances. When you have a wrongful death case and the liability of the at-fault party is clear, oftentimes those cases can be resolved relatively quickly. It’s dependent on the amount of insurance coverage that’s available.

For instance, if the at-fault party has $50,000 worth of coverage, the insurance company is not going to be able to give you that $50,000 quick enough. Those cases can resolve much more quickly. If you have a commercial truck that’s caused the death and has commercial insurance policy, generally worth millions of dollars, it’s very important to see those cases through as far as they can go, and those are the ones that the insurance companies will often fight about. It really comes back to the amount of insurance coverage available.

If the parties cannot agree and work out the claim, then a lawsuit has to be filed. Lawsuits for personal injuries in Georgia have a two-year statute of limitations. They have to be filed within two years of the date of the incident. From the time that the lawsuit is filed, a pretty fair estimation of how long it would take would be somewhere around one to three years to get it resolved.