At THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys, our experienced personal injury attorneys understand the frustration that accident victims feel when personal injury lawsuits drag on longer than expected. In 2025, personal injury law has become complex: insurance companies are slowing down payouts, multiple parties are often involved, and courts remain overloaded.
In this guide, we explain why personal injury lawsuits are taking longer in 2025, who is impacted, and how our legal team helps clients obtain fair compensation without undue delay.
1. Liability Complexities: More Parties, More Disputes
One primary reason personal injury cases are stalling is complex liability investigations. From car accidents to workplace injuries, cases increasingly involve multiple parties, and each denies responsibility. This includes:
- Drivers
- Employers
- Property managers
That multiplies requests for expert witness statements and accident reports. Slip and fall incidents often come down to property maintenance logs, surveillance videos, and notions of “reasonable care.” Every additional defendant means longer discovery, more interrogatories, and extended depositions.
2. Ongoing Medical Treatment & Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)
In 2025, legal professionals and insurance companies expect bodily injuries to be fully assessed and evaluated before legal proceedings.
- Recovery timelines for serious injuries like traumatic brain injuries, chronic pain conditions, or medical malpractice have lengthened. Filing rounds of medical records, rehabilitation costs, and future medical expenses are now standard.
- The concept of maximum medical improvement is key: cases can’t be settled until clients finish treatment and future medical needs are reliably estimated.
- Even “minor injuries” can involve insurance companies demanding elaborate evaluations before acknowledging medical bills or seeking a fair settlement.
At THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys, our law firm meticulously tracks the duration of medical treatment to ensure full and fair compensation. We identify future medical costs early so personal injury settlements don’t leave injury victims short.
3. Insurance Company Delay Tactics
Insurance firms are often responsible for the slowdowns in many personal injury claims.
- Adjusters often challenge medical treatment and claim injuries are pre‑existing or exaggerated, especially in medical malpractice cases.
- They request redundant documentation, hoping to exhaust clients into accepting an unfair deal.
- Larger claims, such as average auto liability claims, future medical needs, lost wages, or pain and suffering, escalate resistance, significantly dragging out the negotiation process.
Our experienced attorneys prevent that from happening. We aggressively counter low-ball or inadequate compensation tactics, utilizing thorough evidence and legal pressure to secure a reasonable settlement more efficiently.
4. Court Backlogs & Judicial Capacity Constraints
Even when personal injury cases move to litigation, delays are common. Many courts are still dealing with backlogs made worse by the pandemic. This slows down the entire legal process.
Discovery: A Major Cause of Delay
One of the biggest reasons for these delays is the discovery phase. This is when both sides gather important information, such as:
- Medical records
- Accident reports
- Expert opinions
- Videos
- Witness statements
It takes time to collect all this, and coordinating schedules between personal injury lawyers, clients, doctors, and experts adds even more delays. Defense attorneys may also request additional documents or bring in new experts, which adds extra steps.
In addition, only about 4–5% of personal injury cases go to trial, according to Forbes. However, many still become stuck in court due to delays such as rescheduled depositions, witness issues, or overly crowded court calendars.
At THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys, we address these delays by staying organized, encouraging mediation when it is beneficial, and working closely with the courts to keep the process moving forward.
5. Disputes Over Damages
In most personal injury cases, when the amount of money that should change hands is unclear or hotly contested, every step of the case slows down. Here’s why disputes over damages so often stretch a personal injury lawsuit from months into years:
| Mechanism | How does it drag the timeline |
| Medical proof must be “final” | Courts and insurers require knowledge of the true cost of treatment and whether new complications will arise. Plaintiffs, therefore, wait to reach maximum medical improvement (MMI), collect updated charts, and sometimes undergo additional specialist exams or independent medical examinations (IMEs). No one wants to negotiate a number today and discover next year that another surgery is needed. |
| Future-loss projections require experts | Big-ticket items—future surgeries, lifetime rehab, diminished earning capacity, home modifications—must be reduced to present-value dollars. That means hiring life-care planners, vocational economists, and actuaries, exchanging lengthy expert reports, and deposing everyone. Each expert schedule can add weeks, and Daubert motions about an expert’s methodology add still more. |
| Subjective, non-economic damages invite wide disagreement | “Pain and suffering,” “loss of enjoyment,” or “emotional distress” have no price tag in a ledger. Plaintiffs and insurers frequently start six (or more) figures apart; bridging that gap takes multiple rounds of written demands, counter-offers, mediation, or even a jury trial. Where the stakes are high, insurers purposely slow-walk negotiations to pressure injured clients who need cash now. |
| High numbers trigger insurer oversight and reinsurance layers | A five-, six-, or seven-figure claim often needs approval from several levels of an insurance company (and sometimes an excess carrier). Each layer reviews the file, asks new questions, and may order fresh investigations before giving settlement authority. |
| Collateral-source & lien issues complicate the ledger | Medicare, Medicaid, workers’ comp, health insurers, or hospital liens must be identified and resolved. Negotiating reductions or set-asides can take months and may stall talks until final numbers are known. |
| Disputed damages can push the case into a trial posture | When the defense believes the plaintiff’s numbers are inflated, especially for future losses, it may refuse to settle and prepare for trial. Trial prep (jury instructions, exhibits, motions in limine) plus the court’s crowded docket routinely adds 12–24 months. “Damages disputes” are one of the specific red flags that make a case likelier to run the full distance. |
How THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys Speeds Up Your Case
Our personal injury lawyers have proven strategies to move your case toward a reasonable settlement or verdict:
- Active Case Management. We ensure medical treatment is scheduled promptly and use digital collaboration with providers.
- Strategic Use of MMI. We manage expectations: cases should not settle before reaching Maximum Medical Improvement unless it is advantageous.
- Detailed Evidence Gathering. We quickly collect accident reports, medical records, and witness statements and secure expert witness testimony early.
- Early Demand & Insurance Prep. We submit a detailed initial demand to set a strong negotiating tone with insurers, reducing back-and-forth.
- Consider Alternative Dispute Resolution. Where appropriate, we pursue mediation or arbitration to avoid court system backlogs and reduce delays.
- Litigation-Ready Positioning. If the settlement stalls, filing strategically puts pressure on insurers and prepares the case for trial.
- Economic Insight for Future Costs. We project future medical expenses, lost income, and rehab costs using modern analytics, aligning with emerging trends in 2025
What You Can Do to Help Your Case Proceed
Even with skilled attorneys, clients’ proactive steps help:
- Follow up attentively on medical treatment, rehab, and specialist visits.
- Keep copies of medical bills, future medical costs, and lost wages documentation.
- Please notify us as soon as new conditions, treatments, or providers become available.
- Provide detailed recollections promptly about accident reports and unintentional injuries.
- Help identify witness statements, photos, or dashcam evidence quickly.
Call THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys to Support You with Your Ongoing Personal Injury Case
The truth is clear: personal injury lawsuits are taking more time in 2025, but that doesn’t mean you have to face delays alone. With medical costs rising, court systems backlogged, and insurance adjusters pushing for fast, unfair resolutions, having an experienced and responsive legal team matters more than ever.
At THE702FIRM Injury Attorneys, our personal injury practice goes beyond legal representation. We serve as advocates, strategists, and partners. We fight to help our clients receive the fair settlement they’re entitled to. Whether you’re dealing with medical malpractice claims, slip and fall injuries, or motor vehicle accidents, we understand how to document the full extent of your losses and push your case forward, even when the system slows down.
Don’t settle for less. Don’t let delay dictate your future. Call us at (702) 478-2266 or schedule a consultation online. Let us show you how our commitment to justice and results can make a difference in your case.
