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This is a question that is posed by many automobile accident clients who are in need of compensation for damages related to personal injury suffered in a Florida automobile accident. Like many legal and insurance questions, the answer is – “it depends”. For most cases, a client typically will treat until the point of maximum medical improvement otherwise known as MMI. This is the point in the medical treatment in which the main treating doctors believe that the patient or the client has reached or plateaued with respect to his or her medical care. Even with further care and treatment, it is not expected that the patient will have any significant change in his or her medical condition unless there is a surgery or other invasive procedure if it is recommended by the doctor.
For some clients, an earlier demand, prior to MMI may be able to be pursued if the medical treatment and damages clearly warrant an early demand of the insurance limits or a portion of the insurance limits prior to the time of reaching MMI. The decision as to when to send out a demand or request a certain amount of payment on a Florida automobile accident personal injury case should be left to the personal injury attorney after after having a discussion with the client. Of course, the client has the ability to give directions and requests to the attorney but it typically is more prudent for the the client to follow the lead and direction of the attorney who has years of experience in handling Florida personal injury cases.
The timing of a demand should not be confused with other timing elements of a case. For instance, the statute of limitations refers to the time period in which a lawsuit must be filed before legal rights are waived regarding a particular automobile accident or other type of incident causing injuries. For most injury cases other than wrongful death and medical malpractice, the applicable statute of limitations is 4 years from the time of the accident. When a lawsuit is filed, there are other timing requirements and deadlines that are set forth by the Court or the Judge assigned to the case.