What actually happens, stage by stage

A Georgia injury case moves through six stages: the free review, investigation and evidence preservation, medical treatment to a stable point, the demand package, negotiation, and — only if the offer does not reflect the harm — filing suit. Most claims resolve without a trial; the ones that resolve well are the ones prepared as if they will not.

Stage 1 — The free review

You describe what happened. Omar asks about liability, about your injuries and treatment, and about the insurance on both sides. At the end of the call you get an honest read: there is a claim, there might be one once we see records, or there is not one and here is why. That answer costs nothing and carries no obligation.

Stage 2 — Investigation and preservation

Evidence disappears fastest in the first month. In that window we typically:

• obtain the crash or incident report (Georgia agencies release most reports through BuyCrash);
• send preservation letters so dashcam, telematics, surveillance and, in trucking cases, the electronic logging data are not overwritten;
• photograph vehicles and the scene before repairs and before conditions change;
• identify every applicable policy — the at-fault driver, any employer, and your own uninsured/underinsured coverage;
• find and interview witnesses while memories are fresh.

Stage 3 — Treatment, and why we wait

A claim can only be valued once your doctors can say what the lasting effect is. Settle before that point and you have accepted a number for an injury nobody had finished diagnosing — and there is no going back.

Two things matter here more than clients expect: keep treating consistently, and tell every provider about every symptom. Gaps in treatment and undocumented complaints are the two arguments adjusters make most reliably.

Stage 4 — The demand

A demand package sets out liability, the medical record, the bills, the wage loss, the future care, and the human cost, and it attaches the proof of each. It is written to be read by an adjuster and, if necessary, by a jury.

Stage 5 — Negotiation

Most cases resolve here. What moves a number is not persistence, it is the file: an adjuster who can see the case is documented, the deadline is understood, and the firm is prepared to file, values it differently from one who cannot.

Stage 6 — Suit, if it is needed

If the offer does not reflect the harm, we file — in the right court, before the deadline. In Georgia that is generally two years from the injury (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33), and shorter when a government entity is involved. Filing is not a failure of negotiation; it is often what makes negotiation serious.

Sources: O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 — injuries to the person: two years · O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5 — ante litem notice to a municipality · O.C.G.A. § 36-11-1 — claims against a county · Georgia crash reports — BuyCrash