Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. | March 7, 2024 | Car Accidents
An accident can leave you in pain, shock, and financial difficulty. Medical bills are coming in just when you find yourself missing work because of your injuries. More than anything else, you can’t understand why it’s taking so long.
You need compensation to move forward, but if you settle too soon, you could end up with far less than the actual value of your claim. It is crucial to understand the possible factors that determine the length of time it takes State Farm to settle claims.
Legal Deadlines
Various legal deadlines might apply to State Farm as it handles your claim. Timelines may vary depending on whether your injuries arise from a car accident or another type of accident and whether you claim damages for injury or property damage.
State Farm can delay payment if it has a good faith reason for denying your claim. This opens the doors to negotiations, which can take months.
Maximum Medical Improvement
You can’t make a claim for medical expenses until you know how much money to ask for. It is difficult to calculate your medical expenses until your medical treatment is complete. Medical treatment is not complete until you have reached maximum medical improvement (MMI).
You reach MMI when your doctor declares that your medical condition has improved as much as it is ever going to. Normally, you shouldn’t file a claim until then.
Insufficient Documentation
You need to provide certain forms of documentation to allow State Farm to understand and verify your claim. You may need to supply copies of your medical bills, for example. Excessive demands for documentation, however, constitute a bad-faith tactic on the part of State Farm.
The Quality of Your Evidence
You cannot win your claim without proving it by “a preponderance of the evidence.” You will experience delays until your evidence is strong enough to support your claim. A car accident attorney can help you file a lawsuit and use the pretrial discovery process to demand evidence from the other side.
Dispute Over Liability
Your claim is more likely to resolve quickly if there’s no question about whose fault the accident was. Disputes over liability, on the other hand, take time to resolve.
Insurance Company “Black Hat” Tactics
State Farm might use unfair tactics against you to delay your claim, including:
- Stonewalling you
- Giving you the runaround
- Refusing to offer a reasonable settlement
- Making frivolous demands for verification
- Misinterpreting policy language
In extreme cases, these practices (among others) amount to bad faith. This will allow you to file a bad faith insurance claim against State Farm. Such a claim would be distinct from the personal injury claim you’ve alredy filed.
A Seasoned New York Personal Injury Lawyer Can Handle Your Settlement With State Farm
An experienced personal injury lawyer can handle all communications and negotiations with State Farm. Hiring a lawyer can enable the insurance company to take your claim more seriously and avoid undue delays. While settling a claim with State Farm may take considerable time, working with a personal injury attorney can make this process more manageable.
If you’ve been injured in an accident in Manhattan, NY, and need legal help, contact our New York City personal injury lawyers at Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C. to schedule a free consultation.
Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C.
100 Wall St 15th Floor
New York, NY 10005
(212) 514-5007