Q: Is there time restraints in a civil personal injury case? Can a big-time insurance company drag it on?

A: If a matter is not in suit, things can drag on. There could be delays in making arrangements to see a vehicle to evaluate property damage, delays to arrange for a preliminary statement from a claimant, delays in reviewing police reports, or responding to correspondence. If a matter is in suit, time tables tend to be reigned in tighter because the parties have a certain number of days to answer pleadings and respond to requests for discovery. But even in suit, matters can drag on, particularly during discovery.

Tim Akpinar

A: if you are asking if there are statute of limitations in an accident? the answer is yes.

PLEASE NOTE:

1. In a Personal Injury case, you have two (2) years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. If you do not file a lawsuit within 2 years, you will not be able to seek damages, if any, for the injuries you may have suffered. If the case involves a Medical Malpractice against a medical provider, the code requires that a medical malpractice action be filed within 3 years from the date of injury or 1 year from when a reasonable person would have suspected malpractice, whichever date comes first.

2. For a suit against a government entity (i.e. a city, state, police department) YOU MUST FILE A CLAIM WITH THE ENTITY NO LATER THAN SIX (6) MONTHS AFTER THE DATE OF THE ACCIDENT/INCIDENT. FURTHERMORE, ONCE THE GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY REJECTS YOUR CLAIM, YOU MUST FILE A LAWSUIT WITHIN SIX MONTHS AFTER THE REJECTION OF SUCH CLAIM - WHETHER BY EXPRESS REJECTION BY THE ENTITY OR BY IMPLIED REJECTION WHEN THE ENTITY FAILS TO RESPOND AFTER SIX MONTHS.

A: If you are in pre-lawsuit negotiations, the insurer doesn't have to do anything. If you aren't represented by an attorney, I wouldn't expect that the insurer will do much.

If you haven't filed, you generally have two years in a personal injury suit to file suit under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.

(https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=335.1).

After you have filed, you generally have five years to bring your case to trial under Code of Civil Procedure section 583.310.

(http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=583.310.).

Different statutes of limitations can apply, and your case can be dismissed for failure to prosecute before the five years has passed, and the five years can be tolled in certain circumstances.

Basically, the burden to move things forward is on you, not the insurer for the defendant. Niether the insurer nor the defendant has any obligation to resolve your case until a Judment has been entered against the insured.

A: Spelling counts:

*Judgment

*Neither