The average lawsuit takes a little over three years from beginning to end. The beginning of the lawsuit is the filing of the summons and complaint with the county clerk’s office in your county and the end of the lawsuit typically occurs at the trial.

Why does a lawsuit take so long? There are two reasons: delays and adjournments by the defense lawyers and a congested trial calendar in the court system.

Let’s start with the constants delays and adjournments by defense lawyers. From the beginning of the case until the end, it’s almost a sure thing the defense lawyers will delay and adjourn every aspect of the case from depositions, paper discovery and the trial. Why? In 90% of cases, the insurance carrier will not pay money until the trial or just before the trial, so it makes sense to prolong and delay the case as long as possible from the defendants’ point of view.

A congested trial calendar for the court is also a problem. In large counties, the court may schedule as many as 25 trials for the same day…in front of the same judge. Seems crazy, but this happens. The court assumes that most of the cases will settle or be adjourned by a defense lawyer and maybe one or two cases will need a trial.

In some counties, once you tell the Judge that you’re ready for trial, it may still be over a year or two before the trial. The defense lawyer may claim he’s not available due to his busy schedule or maybe the court’s trial calendar is overloaded for the next 12 months. Either way, you’re lucky if you can get a trial date that is just 6-8 months after your request for a trial.

Do you have questions? You can get our free ebook, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, just by providing your name and email address at the home page of www.protectingpatientrights.com. We promise your information won’t be shared with third persons. And if you’d like to speak with me about your case, I welcome your phone call at 1-866-889-6882. I look forward to speaking with you.