CapTran is a litigation financial services company that makes working capital loan to law firms as well as pre-settlement advances to plaintiff. Financially stressed plaintiffs come to us for financial help in order to be able to sustain themselves while waiting for their case to resolve. We are not a law firm and we offer no legal advice. However, we do have a great deal of experience investing in personal injury cases. The observations and comments in this article are a result of those experiences.

One of the most common questions we are asked is "Why is my case taking so long?" Many clients get angry as the time between the injury and the claim settlement gets longer and longer. Plaintiffs often vent their anger at their attorneys for the delay when, in most cases, it is not their fault. We constantly hear clients complain that their attorney is "not doing anything" or "my attorney won't tell me anything".

CapTran has invested in thousands of personal injury cases and has dealt with literally thousands of personal injury attorneys and their staffs. Our experience tells us that there are many reasons for the delay and in order to determine whether or not your case is going unusually slow it is important to understand how the claim process works.

First and foremost is the fact that insurance companies are in no hurry to settle. The longer they can hang on to the money, the more investment income they can earn. While many states have bad faith insurance laws that require insurance companies to handle claims in good faith, many continue to move as slowly as they think the law will allow. Certain insurance companies are especially slow to deal with and some have even been successfully sued under the bad faith insurance laws. Most cases settle without a lawsuit.

Notice we say "claim process" and not lawsuit. That is because year in and year out, most personal injury claims are settled without a lawsuit. For example, insurance industry survey data reveals that 95%-96% of all motor vehicle bodily injury claims are settled without a lawsuit ever being filed. Attorneys only file lawsuits as a last resort if the claim cannot be settled through negotiation with the tortfeasor's (defendant's) insurance carrier.

Should I hire an attorney or handle the claim myself? If what you just read about settlement data has you thinking that, if it is so easy to settle a case, maybe you should handle the claim yourself, think again. Study after study shows that claims paid to claimants without legal representation are lower than those with legal counsel.

The claims process

Your attorney will notify the defendant's insurance company that counsel is representing you. The insurance company will assign an adjuster to work on your claim. This is the person with whom your attorney will negotiate to secure the best settlement possible.

There are two parts to the claims process - liability and damages.

LIABILITY

The first part of the claims process is establishing liability. If there is any question of liability the claims process will come to a screeching halt.

Plaintiffs always seem to feel that the question of liability is cut and dried since a police officer may have arrived at the scene and issued a traffic ticket to the defendant. However, it may not be that simple: