Product Liability Claim Timeline

Answer:

How long will it take, from beginning to end, to go through a product liability case? There’s no simple answer to that question. The starting point for the answer to that question is that the assumption is your case would be filed in Idaho. Frankly, not all product liability cases that we handle are from Idaho at our law firm, are filed in Idaho, but let’s assume your case is filed in Idaho. The time from filing a lawsuit to having your day in trial for a case in Idaho, excluding considerations for the COVID-19 virus, will probably be in the neighborhood of not less than 15 months, not more than 24 months. That’s probably a fair range of time from when you first file the lawsuit to when you will be in trial for the case if the case goes to trial. Many cases settle before trial so obviously if the case does not go to trial, the time would be less than the 15 to 24-month estimate that I’ve given.

There can be appeals following trials and that extends the length of time that it could take to resolve the case by at least a year and probably more than a year. There also may be some time spent investigating the product failure that takes place before you file the lawsuit. That can vary from case to case and that could extend the length of time from beginning to end. Generally speaking, from the time of filing the lawsuit to the time of trial in Idaho is anywhere from a minimum of about 15 months to not much more than about 24 months. If you have questions related to product liability cases or any issues you’re dealing with related to considering whether you have a product liability case, please give us a call at Hepworth and Holzer and we’ll help you any way we can.