April 27, 2019
Many new clients ask how long it will take to get to a jury trial? The short answer is that it varies but be patient. The time to get a case to trial depends on many factors including:
- the schedule of the trial court the case is assigned to;
- whether the client is still receiving medical treatment from injuries suffered prior to trial;
- how long it takes to get discovery done including depositions and written discovery;
- parties and attorneys availability for trial;
- the length of time you believe will be needed to try your case; and
- whether the defense files various motions for the court to address including those raising legal or other factual defenses.
The bottom line is that it takes time for a case to get ready for trial. Our recent experience shows that timelines for trial depend in large part on a court’s availability. Some courts have dockets that are less congested where others do not. Some courts will give you a trial date shortly after a case is filed while others only assign a trial date once certain parts of the discovery process are completed. The discovery process can be more time consuming if the insurance company and their lawyers defending the at-fault party or parties delay, refuse to provide discovery or make it a practice to file motions with the court. It is not uncommon to get a trial date 1-3 years after you file a lawsuit.
For example, we just tried a case to a jury this year and received a favorable verdict for an injured railroad worker who was hurt in 2013. It took 6 years from injury to verdict in that case.
If you work with us, we will typically spend the time to gather all evidence and send the insurer for the at-fault party all they need to know to settle your case fairly before we file a lawsuit. If they choose to ignore our reasonable demand, we do our best to push cases as fast as we can to trial to get the matter to a jury.
We firmly believe “justice delayed is justice denied.”
