When you are in the middle of a civil lawsuit, the legal process can be excruciatingly long. In personal injury lawsuits, for example, your ability to receive monetary payment by pursuing legal action is challenged by the length of time it may take for you to go through all of the legal motions in order to successfully pursue a legal claim.

During this time, you may have mounting medical bills, lost wages, and everyday cost of living pressures that make pursuing your legal claim even more of a challenge. If you are involved in a pending lawsuit, it’s important that you understand the process of how settlements work and ultimately how you receive a settlement check.

Settlement Definition

In the context of civil litigation, a settlement is an agreement between two or more parties where all parties agree to some type of settlement that effectively ends the pursuit of legal action through the courts. Lawsuit settlements typically involve the defendant agreeing to some portion of the claim that was first brought about by the plaintiff. This usually involves some type of monetary payment to cover damages. By choosing not to go to trial, the defendant agrees that the matter will be settled out of court, which will end the litigation.

How Long Does a Settlement Take?

Settlement negotiations may take a very long time, depending on the specific details of your case. If you are pursuing a legal claim that involves an insurance company or multiple defendants, that can extend the amount of time that your case takes to settle (if your claim is ultimately successful).

Different case types also have different timelines associated with settlement negotiation discussions. A personal injury case against an individual defendant will have a different settlement timeline than a medical malpractice lawsuit, for example. No matter what type of case you are pursuing, most civil lawsuits will not be resolved in a timely manner.

What Is a Settlement Check?

A settlement check is the monetary payment that is owed to the plaintiff after the defendant and plaintiff have reached a settlement, minus legal fees and other expenses that have been paid in your lawsuit. If you are successful in winning your legal claim and settling out of court, your settlement check is the monetary award you will receive for any damages suffered.

Settlement Check Timeline

In the case of a personal injury lawsuit, settlement checks may take weeks to get to a plaintiff. If a judge or jury awards you monetary payment for medical expenses, pain and suffering or lost wages, an Order of Settlement is created that must be executed by both parties. As a defendant, you will need to sign a release form where you accept the settlement and release your right to future liability claims against the defendant for the specific claim that you are settling. It’s important that all the details of the release form are understood and reviewed with your attorney before you sign. Proposed revisions to the release form may create additional delays for your settlement check.

After the release form has been signed and sent back to the defendant or the defendant’s insurance company, the form must be processed before a settlement check is sent to your attorney. Once your attorney receives the lawsuit settlement check, the settlement check will be deposited into a trust or escrow account, where it will be placed until the funds have been released to pay the amount agreed upon during the settlement process.

After funds clear, your attorney will pay outstanding liens related to the lawsuit before any funds are released to you. This may include medical costs, legal fees and other attorney expenses that were incurred during the course of your legal claim. Once these outstanding payments have been made, you will receive your lawsuit settlement check.

Where Is My Settlement Check?

If you are waiting for your pending legal claim to be resolved, it may make sense to leverage legal funding as an option to get funds today. Legal funding (also referred to as lawsuit loans) is an agreement where you can receive a non-recourse cash advance using your future settlement as collateral. Because the cash advance is non-recourse, you only repay the amount of the advance if your lawsuit is ultimately successful. If you lose your case, you pay nothing.

To learn more about the settlement check process and the legal funding options available to you, contact Pegasus Funding today.