It is estimated that over 200,000 people die every year in the US in situations that could lead to wrongful death lawsuits. This happens from car accidents, medical malpractice, job injuries, intentional acts and more reasons.
When your family loses someone because of another person’s carelessness or wrongful actions, life changes instantly. You’re grieving, overwhelmed, and probably dealing with wrongful death lawsuits—especially when there are medical bills, funeral expenses, and financial losses to deal with. One of the biggest questions people ask us is “How long do wrongful death lawsuits take to settle in Illinois?”
Since 2001, we have helped thousands of people find the best wrongful death lawyer for their case. We will recommend the right attorney for your case and answer any questions you may have. Contact Illinois Lawyers today to speak with an experienced wrongful death attorney in Illinois for FREE.
How Long Does A Wrongful Death Lawsuit Take?
The honest answer is that every case is different. While I would say that the average case takes 2-3 years, I have seen some cases settle in less than a month and others take over a decade. There are a variety of factors that influence how long a case lasts, including:
- How much insurance is there? If your spouse was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver and that person only has a $50,000 insurance policy and you do not have under-insured motorist coverage, it is likely that case will settle very quickly. On the other hand, if your spouse was killed by an Amazon semi truck driver on the highway, there is no limit to what the case could be worth. That means a more detailed analysis needs to happen on your loss to maximize any recovery.
- What type of case is it? The reality is that a wrongful death lawsuit for medical malpractice is going to take a long time. Most take six months to a year to investigate. That is because there are often tens of thousands of pages of medical records that need to be reviewed, both by the law firm and outside medical experts. And often hospitals do not cooperate in turning records over. Until that all happens, a lawsuit can not happen. By comparison, a car accident death can be more straight forward and be brought within a day of the accident.
- What defenses are there? Insurance companies do not just give money away. They make billions by limiting what they payout. They will fight any case they can, even if their defense is not strong. The harder they defend the case, the longer it will take because that means depositions, a lot more court appearances and potential delays before a trial.
- What factors are beyond your control? If your loved one was killed by a drunk driver or shot by some scumbag, your civil lawsuit might get delayed while a criminal case takes place. That is because those people have a right to fight their criminal case first and can not be forced to give information that can be used against them. Other times you think you are set for trial, but the Judge gets sick and the case gets kicked for six months. That sounds grossly unfair, but it happens.
- How many defendants are there? The general rule is that the more defendants there are, the longer a case will take. If there is a death on a construction site due to a faulty scaffold, it would not be unusual for their to be 5-10 parties that you end up suing. For every deposition, the schedules of the lawyers have to align. That can be a challenge. Same for a trial.
- Can witnesses be tracked down? This of course varies by case, but if an accident is seen by someone who lives out of state or moves addresses, that might make it harder to locate them. It is possible a private investigator will have to be hired to find them.
- Is a witness refusing to cooperate? Every witness can be forced to testify at deposition and trial. Some do not want to so they will ignore phone calls from investigators as well as attorneys who are trying to select a time for them to testify. This behavior can increase the time it takes to get vital information and make the case last longer.
- How aggressive is your lawyer? Some attorneys, for some odd reason, like to wait for a week or two before the statute of limitations is going to run before they file a lawsuit. While that might make sense in a small car accident, it usually does not in a wrongful death claim. If a loved on died in October of 2024, but the lawyer does not sue until September of 2026, you can anticipate that it will bye another couple of years before everything resolves. If the insurance company is slow to respond to discovery requests and your attorney does not file motions to light a fire under them, the case will drag on. The right lawyer can get you a better result in faster time.
How Important Is It To Settle Your Case Quickly?
Every case truly is different and that includes your personal goals. What we highly recommend is that you work with a lawyer to determine a potential range of what your case could be worth and then balance it with your personal goals and needs.
By that, I mean that if you are worried about losing your house, it might make sense to take a settlement for $250,000 today even if in six months your case could be worth $300,000. On the other hand, if your case is potentially worth $10 million, it would be insane to take $2 million today even though that is a lot of money.
While we are generally against people taking lawsuit loans, in some high value claims it might make sense if it allows you to wait for a better outcome. You do not want to let the insurance company delay in a manner that causes you to take less than half what the case could be worth if you can help it.
And it is important to know that in many cases, you will not get the best settlement offer possible without a real threat of going to trial. The act of going to trial helps create leverage because the insurance company must reckon with what they have to lose at that point. It is not uncommon for an insurance company to offer only 10% of their best offer until the very end. That is not always true of course. And sometimes you will only get a fair amount if you go to trial.
If you would like a free case review about your claim and our recommendation of which firm is best for your type of case, please contact us any time. We help everywhere in Illinois and will give you the same advice we would give to family members or friends.
