Legal Question in Personal Injury in Florida
How long does it take to get your money after you settle your lawsuit? I settled in February and still haven't gotten any money and it's supposedly because they went ahead and settled for $35,000 without my okay, it was a slip and fall at my two story house I what's renting. And the owners did not keep up with the lighting outside where the steps were, also one part of the stairs was roped off for over three months because they were all split. I slipped on mildewy stairs and completely collapsed my hip and had to have a replacement. I was told the reason that they settled for the 35,000 West because it would cost over ten Grand to get the doctor to do a deposition for trial. My hip replacement cost over $100,000. I'm starting to think that all this is not adding up right. My doctor informed me on Monday that he could not believe how my suit ended, he said no doubt in his mind he thought that would have been at least 200 to 300 thousand settlement. Also another thing they're saying is the reason that I didn't have much to go on his because I had a vascular necrosis which was no proper blood flow to my hip before I fell, I was never told any of this until a couple days before me going to mediation.
1 Answer from Attorneys
It typically takes about 3 to 4 weeks. This sounds like you settled at mediation? If so, you signed all the settlement paperwork, so it would have been with your express "OK". $35,000 sounds terribly low, unless your hip replacement was not caused by the fall. Your doctor would know the answer to that. Doctor's can testify by video and it is much less expensive . . . that said, there are lots of lawyers who cannot afford to go to trial because they do not have the financial resources to pay the witness fees and other expenses necessary. Those cases settle cheap as a result. You should always make sure the lawyer can afford your case.