One of the things my clients always ask is how long is this going to take? How long is this going to take? Uh, it’s very hard to say, and I never lie. I tell them this might be over very quickly, could be months. And this is something that could take a very long period of time. So be prepared for that.
And I don’t want to ever tell somebody something can be resolved quickly if I know it can’t. The best example I can give is if you have to bring a lawsuit against the city of New York. The city is a large place with a lot of people and a lot of very good attorneys working for them. There’s just not enough attorneys working for them. Those cases do take a longer period of time. Courthouses in the city are aware of this. The city of New York has their own parts that just handle city cases because there are so many of them.
Uh, so if somebody’s injured and I know the city is a defendant, I have to be honest day one. Uh, I have to say I’m sorry, but these cases take longer than other types of cases. My firm will do everything we can to keep you abreast of every step of the way and everything that’s happening. We always will, but I have to warn people ahead of time, these things could take a while.
Sometimes cases can be resolved very easily. Sometimes it depends on the extent of insurance coverage and how much coverage is available. Sometimes it’s a smaller insurance policy and the injury is so serious that I know that case may be resolved in a matter of weeks.
I had a case in January of this year that the accident occurred, I believe it was January 3rd, and before the end of the month, the case was over. Uh, unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough insurance coverage, so it’s very hard to tell.
Being honest with the clients is very important, and just being on top of everything and moving it as quickly as possible is really all we can do.