Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
When is it too long to decide a case?
My father was in litigation concerning injury he received in an accident. The accident happened, 12/2000 and the case was just setteled by arbitration 9/2003 my father, passed away, because of an unrelated problem 8/2003. as a result, the case settled for 20,000. the settlement includes, lost wages, car repair, medical bills, and lawyer's fees. the 20k doesn't even come close to the lost wages or medical bills. is there an appeal or can there be any suit be brought against the attorney's for dragging their feed on this?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: When is it too long to decide a case?
Who was at the arbitration? If your father was no longer alive at the arbitration, who testified in his behalf? The administrator of his estate should have been substituted in as the plaintiff. If that didn't happen, procedurally, the case might be in limbo and there's a question whether the matter should have gone to arbitration in the first place.
Re: When is it too long to decide a case?
The case does not get settled in Arbitration. If there was an arbitration, then there must have been an arbitration award, which is similar to a court verdict. What is not clear from your maeesage is who was repersenting the plaintiff? was there a successor in interest? an executor assigned? was the arbitration binding or not? Unless I know the answers to these questions I am afraid I won't be able to help you any further.
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