Do You Have to File a Lawsuit After a Wreck?
Most Georgia car wreck claims settle with the insurance adjuster, but here's when filing a lawsuit becomes the right move.
If you were hurt in a wreck, you may be picturing a courtroom, a jury box, and a lawyer in a suit cross-examining a witness. That image causes a lot of injured people to put off making a call, because a lawsuit sounds slow, expensive, and stressful. Here is the reality: most cases never get there. In the majority of claims, there is no jury, no opposing counsel, and no trial calendar. It is your lawyer and the insurance company’s adjuster, working toward a resolution.
Most Claims Are Settled, Not Litigated
The typical car wreck claim is handled entirely outside of court. Your attorney gathers the proof, builds out the medical picture, and presents the claim directly to the adjuster handling the file. Negotiations happen by phone, email, and letter. Nobody is deposed. Nobody testifies.
On average, only about 20% of cases need to be litigated. That means the overwhelming majority resolve without anyone filing anything with a court. If your case is one of them, your involvement is mostly limited to getting the medical treatment you need and keeping your lawyer updated.
That is good news for you. Settling without litigation is usually faster, and it spares you the time and emotional cost that comes with a lawsuit.
When Filing a Lawsuit Becomes the Right Call
Not every claim cooperates. There are two situations where filing suit stops being a last resort and becomes the smart move.
There is a real disagreement over fault. If the insurance company refuses to accept that its driver caused the wreck, negotiation can stall out completely. An adjuster who has decided you are at fault has very little reason to make a fair offer. Filing a lawsuit changes that dynamic, because now the question of fault will be decided by someone other than the insurance company.
The insurance company is dragging its feet. Sometimes fault is not even in dispute, but the carrier simply will not move. Your car sits unrepaired. Calls go unreturned. Deadlines the adjuster set for themselves come and go. A good firm gives the insurer ample opportunity to do the right thing first. But once that opportunity has been extended and nothing happens, waiting longer just rewards the delay.
Why a Lawsuit Changes the Insurance Company’s Behavior
Filing suit is not about picking a fight. It is about leverage.
Before a lawsuit, an adjuster can ignore you at almost no cost. After a lawsuit, the file leaves the adjuster’s desk and enters a process with rules, obligations, and consequences. The company now has to respond formally, produce information, and take positions it can be held to. That shift is what allows an attorney to convince the insurance company that it needs to stop being stupid and start engaging seriously.
Very often, things run more smoothly after a lawsuit is filed than they ever did before. Offers appear. Phone calls get returned. Repairs get authorized. Filing does not guarantee a trial — many cases still settle after suit is filed — but it removes the insurer’s ability to stall for free.
What to Look for in a Firm That Can Actually Litigate
Any lawyer can threaten to file. Fewer are genuinely built to follow through, and insurance companies know the difference. If a firm’s threats are empty, adjusters learn to wait them out.
That is why litigation capacity matters. A firm that keeps paralegals dedicated solely to litigating car cases is a firm that can file, staff, and push a lawsuit without slowing down the rest of its work. When you are choosing representation, ask directly: how are your litigated cases handled, and who handles them? A firm with real litigation infrastructure sends a very different message to the other side than one that only settles.
What This Means for Your Case
Expect your claim to be resolved through negotiation, because most are. But hire someone who is fully prepared to file if the insurance company disputes fault or refuses to move at a reasonable pace. The willingness and ability to litigate is often what makes settling possible in the first place.
Full Transcript
Somebody gets into a wreck, most cases you don’t need to file a lawsuit. There’s no jury, there’s no opposing counsel, there’s none of that. It’s just us and the insurance company’s adjuster.
But if there’s a disagreement over who is at fault for the wreck or the insurance company is not going fast enough to fix our client’s car and we’ve given them ample opportunity, which we always do, then we file a lawsuit because when you file a lawsuit, the attorney’s able to convince the insurance company that they need to stop being stupid. That makes things run a little bit smoother.
I would say on average, only about 20% of cases need to be litigated. So we picked up another litigation paralegal. So now we have three litigation paralegals who are only dedicated to litigating cars.