The Shoulder
The Shoulder
67
spry-heron-425

2 years in and my lawyer keeps moving the goalposts — do I wait it out or bail?

Okay so I need to vent and also genuinely need some perspective from people who've been through this.

I got hit from behind on the highway about two years ago. The impact was hard enough to total my car and send me to the ER, then into months of physical therapy. My injuries weren't catastrophic but they weren't nothing either — I dealt with neck and shoulder issues for a long time after.

I hired an attorney pretty early on and at first everything felt like it was moving. Then it just... stopped. Or at least it felt that way. Every time I check in I get a new estimated timeline. First it was "we expect to resolve this by spring," then summer, then the end of the year. Now I'm being told we're "actively negotiating" and it should wrap up "within the next few weeks." I've heard that before.

Here's what's messing with my head: my coworker got rear-ended around the same time I did, hired a different firm, and had a check in hand within seven or eight months. Her situation seemed pretty comparable to mine on the surface.

I'm not trying to get rich off this. I just want it to be over. At this point I'd honestly accept less than I originally hoped for just to close the chapter. But I also don't want to blow up a case that's actually close to the finish line out of impatience.

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of extended timeline? Is constantly shifting deadlines a red flag or is this just how the process works sometimes? Should I be pushing harder or does that backfire?

8replies

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8 replies

  • 24
    kind-swan-081

    Not legal advice, but: you always have the right to fire your attorney and find new representation, and in most PI cases you'd only owe the original firm for work actually performed. That said, switching attorneys close to a resolution can sometimes reset momentum and cost you more in the long run. The better move first is probably a direct, documented conversation with your current attorney asking for a written case status summary and a realistic — not optimistic — timeline. If they can't or won't provide that, then yeah, a second opinion might be warranted.

  • 21
    genuine-swift-114

    Honestly from the inside, "actively negotiating" can mean a lot of things. It can mean real back-and-forth is happening and a number is getting narrowed down. It can also mean your attorney sent a demand letter two months ago and is waiting on a response that keeps getting punted to a supervisor. Those are very different situations. Worth asking your attorney exactly where the last communication with the adjuster stands and when the most recent exchange happened.

  • 19
    quiet-heron-016

    The other side's insurance company has zero incentive to settle quickly. They make money sitting on it. Every month that passes is another month their investment earns. I'd be asking your attorney point blank: what specific obstacle is causing the delay right now? Not a general answer — a specific one. If they can't give you that, that's a problem.

  • 18
    spry-mole-239

    Stop accepting verbal updates. Email only from here on. Write something like: 'Can you send me a written summary of where negotiations stand and what the next concrete steps are?' If they keep giving you vague answers in writing, you have documentation. If they suddenly get specific, great — problem solved.

  • 14
    clever-kestrel-128

    I could have written this post myself about 18 months ago. My case dragged on forever and every update felt like a copy-paste of the last one. What finally helped me was asking my attorney to put the current status in writing via email — not a call, actual email. Suddenly things started moving faster. I don't know if it was the paper trail or what, but something shifted. Hang in there, the "actively negotiating" phase really can be close to the end.

  • 12
    plain-finch-766

    Two years isn't unusual for cases with documented injury and ongoing treatment — the file often can't close until you've hit what's called "maximum medical improvement" so the full damages picture is clear. That said, once you're past that point and into negotiation, repeated missed deadlines are worth questioning. You have every right to request a full status update in writing and ask specifically what the remaining steps are before a settlement offer is accepted or rejected. Not legal advice, just how these offices generally work.

    • 20
      quiet-lynx-995

      The emotional exhaustion of this is so real and I don't think people talk about it enough. You're already dealing with recovery and then you have to keep reliving the whole thing every time you check in on your case. Whatever happens, I hope you get a resolution soon — you deserve to actually move on.

  • 11
    cool-badger-089

    What does 'actively negotiating' actually mean in your case — do you know if a formal demand letter went out and what number was on it? And has the other driver's liability been fully accepted or is that still in play? Those details matter a lot for understanding whether two years is actually unusual for your specific situation or whether something is genuinely off.