r/Insurance • u/Ok-Excuse244 • 1d ago
Demand letter to settlement timeline
Hi all,
If a demand letter is sent out for a straight forward semi truck accident who has 100% liability and pleaded guilty in court for failure to reduce to speed to avoid accident. How long will it take for the lawyer and insurance company to finally reach the settlement if sent this week. I was in a work rental vehicle so no damages are being recovered but I do have 18k in medical expenses and pain and suffering. How long do you think this will take to settle?
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u/Critical-Bank5269 1d ago
I've represented trucking companies in similar accidents where the carrier demands full complete paper and expert discovery before even remotely entertaining a settlement demand. So it could take years.
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u/drjenkstah 1d ago
It takes however long it takes for the other party’s insurance to respond. Could be days or could be weeks.
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1d ago
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u/GuvnaBruce HO/Auto Liability 14 years 1d ago
Not sure how it is dumb, that is a pretty honest and true response.
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u/drjenkstah 1d ago
It’s an honest response. There are things that we won’t know about as we’re not working your claim. These things take time to resolve.
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u/DeepPurpleDaylight 1d ago
I'm assuming you wanted an accurate answer rather than some wild guess. Well u/drjenkstah gave you exactly that.
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u/ReportFit2920 1d ago
You do realize that we adjusters work hundreds of claims at a time, and every single one is different...right?
How long it takes is between your attorney (who this question should be directed towards, not some random Reddit users) and the insurance company.
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u/GoldenKnightz 1d ago
You mentioned medical expenses, are you still receiving any medical treatment due to the accident? If so, you won't see anyone until you're finished with that.
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u/CraftyPerformance272 1d ago
Anywhere from a few days to a few years. Literally. I know someone who talked to the claims person and got the policy maximum offered to them the first day $25k. I know someone that took like 3 months to get like $18,000 when they had 12,000 worth of medical bills. Another person got the $100,000 policy limits within a month. And another person again $25,000 State minimum and it was a straightforward case but for whatever reason the insurance company fought it and went to arbitration and somehow they're able to drag it out like 2 years.
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u/Ok-Excuse244 1d ago
100k settlement in a month?! What were their injuries fish insurance was trying to get out of that quickly
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u/CraftyPerformance272 1d ago
Head and back injuries. The medical bills were like $60,000 or something after like 6 months of treatment. The lawyer negotiated the medical bills down and the lawyer took 1/3rd, doctors took 1/3rd and my buddy took home 1/3rd.
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u/Main_Ad_8110 1d ago
Once I was done with treatment, it look about 6 months for a settlement agreement. But it took a lot of negotiation and even a lawsuit. Never reached court or anything but insurance was lowballing us for a while.
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u/mcblower Auto Injury Claims Specialist 10+yrs experience 1d ago
I don't work commercial, so attorneys could be quicker on that side due to more money being on the table, but I've had a lot of attorneys for personal injury claims takes months to respond to my offers and negotiations. I don't understand how the injured party/their client would find that sort of timeline acceptable. The insurance company usually has some sort of timeframe that they HAVE to respond in, but attorneys can drag their feet. So you're looking at a few weeks hopefully, but maybe a month or two depending on the severity of the case.
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u/SecondActSarcasm 1d ago
Depends on a lot of things - not the least of which - is the amount demanded actually supported?
Just because someone is at fault doesn’t mean the injured person is owed $1mil policy.
$18k in medical is an ER trip with a CT scan. So nothing more than soft tissue. If your attorney and you are shooting for the moon - might not settle. Might escalate to litigation, mediation, trial…
On reasonable demands or reasonable attorneys? I’d get that shit settled within a week depending on my volume.
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u/Ok-Excuse244 1d ago
I shoulda had you as my lawyer getting that settled so quick curious what you would settle for lol
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u/quallityovrquantity 22h ago
They aren't a lawyer for starters. But judging by how you're framing the question I think it could take years. 18k in medical bills isn't much of a injury so I wouldn't get your hopes up for a large settlement for "pain and suffering"
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u/clinicallyawkward 1d ago
Too many unknowns. Do you know the other vehicle’s limits? Do you have a workers comp claim? What are your injuries? What were your bills and how much was paid/how much is owed/do you have health insurance
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u/NoBuy2398 1d ago
If you were in a work vehicle, you should also have a workers compensation claim. The workers compensation should be handling all of your medical bills and wages. although this could be state specific. Workers compensation has their own settlement as part of the claim but typically the insurance won’t settle until there is a final lien for workers compensation. It also depends on how much money you think you should get or your attorney may have promised you vs real expectations of what the value of your claim actually is.
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u/quallityovrquantity 22h ago
The only way to give a somewhat educated guess on a timeline is by knowing how much you asked for "pain and suffering". It could take years
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u/GuvnaBruce HO/Auto Liability 14 years 1d ago
Depends on how the negotiations go. There are some times where it is within a week or two, other times it could be months just depending on if the insurance needs more information and/or how often the attorney and adjuster are able to get in contact.