If your car accident claim will not settle with the insurance company, the next step is filing a personal injury lawsuit. In Oklahoma, that lawsuit is generally filed in the county district court where the wreck happened, and state law gives you two years from the date of the accident to sue under 12 O.S. § 95.
Filing a Claim Versus Filing a Lawsuit
Filing a claim means making a demand of the insurance company. Filing a lawsuit means starting an actual court case. The claim comes first: a demand packet summarizing what happened, with photos of the vehicles, the accident report, medical records and bills, and proof of any lost income.
Insurance adjusters work for the company that pays them, not for you, which is part of why Oklahoma’s Insurance Department exists to oversee how insurers handle claims in the state. If the adjuster will not offer a fair number, the next step is filing what Oklahoma law calls a petition, a pleading that lays out who is involved, what happened, when and where the wreck occurred, and why the other driver was at fault.
Where a Car Accident Lawsuit Is Filed
Most Oklahoma City car accident cases are filed in the Oklahoma County District Court, in what lawyers call state court. If the wreck happened anywhere in Oklahoma County, or happened elsewhere but the driver who caused it lives in Oklahoma County, that is generally where the case belongs.
A case can end up in federal court instead, in the Western District of Oklahoma, but only if two things are both true: the other driver or company is from out of state, and the amount in dispute is more than $75,000. Even when a case starts in state court, the defendant can ask to move, or “remove,” it to federal court if both conditions are met. Oklahoma’s district courts sit within the state’s broader network of government services, but for nearly every car accident case, the county district court is where the lawsuit plays out from start to finish.
Oklahoma’s Comparative Negligence Rule and Your Lawsuit
Oklahoma follows a modified comparative negligence rule. Under 23 O.S. § 13, your own negligence does not bar you from recovering money unless your fault is greater than the fault of the driver who hit you, or greater than the combined fault of multiple defendants. In practice, that means you can still recover even if a jury finds you were partly to blame, as long as your share of fault is 50 percent or less.
This rule, not any single settlement conversation, usually controls the outcome once a case reaches a jury, since it decides both whether you recover anything and how much a jury’s award gets reduced. For more on how shared fault can reduce what you recover, see our page on that rule.
The Car Accident Lawsuit Process, Step by Step
Once the petition is filed, the case moves through predictable stages before it resolves, whether by settlement or by trial, and cases most often settle somewhere along the way.
Serving the Defendant and the Insurer’s Answer
After the petition is filed, the plaintiff’s attorney must formally serve the defendant driver, and the employer too if the driver was working at the time of the wreck. A common misconception is that the insurance company gets sued directly. It does not. The driver is the defendant, and the insurance company’s lawyers defend the case on the driver’s behalf.
Cases will sometimes settle at this point, once the insurance company sees the plaintiff is serious about pursuing the claim. Once served, the defense generally has 20 days in Oklahoma state court to file an Answer, and most insurance defense lawyers send out written discovery requests around the same time.
Discovery
Discovery is the formal exchange of evidence once a lawsuit is filed. It includes interrogatories (written questions), requests for production (document requests), and requests for admission, with each side generally given about 30 days to respond once served. The plaintiff’s attorney sends similar discovery to the defendant, seeking information that was not available before the suit was filed, such as cell phone records from around the time of the wreck, any video, and the defendant’s own admissions or denials of fault.
Cases will sometimes settle at this stage as well, since discovery responses give the insurance company a clearer picture of liability and of the extent of the claimant’s injuries. Everything gathered here, including photos and the medical records and bills behind common disputes that come up during car accident settlement talks, becomes part of what a jury could eventually see if the case does not settle.
Depositions
Once discovery responses come back, the defense attorney will usually want to take the plaintiff’s deposition, sworn testimony that typically runs about three hours depending on how organized the questioning is and how much medical history is involved. Read more about what happens at a car accident deposition. Cases often settle after this deposition, since it gives the insurance lawyer a chance to see how the plaintiff is likely to come across in front of a jury.
Depending on how the defendant answered discovery, the plaintiff’s attorney will usually take the defendant driver’s deposition as well. Cases often settle again shortly afterward, once the insurance company has a fuller picture of what a jury might award.
Mediation
If the case still has not settled, the next stop is usually mediation. Both sides typically submit a mediation statement summarizing the case beforehand, and you should review yours before the session. A mediation can run a few hours or a full day, with the mediator’s fee split between both sides.
Most cases that reach mediation settle there, and some settle in the days just afterward. If a case does settle before trial, it is worth weighing the pros and cons of settling before trial against the delay, uncertainty, and expense of moving forward. For general background on how insurers approach claim resolution, the Insurance Information Institute publishes consumer-facing material on the process.
Trial
Cases that do not settle at or after mediation head toward trial, either a jury trial or a bench trial decided by a judge alone. Either side can file a motion asking the court to set a trial date and specify which type it wants; the side requesting a jury pays a jury fee.
A bench trial is usually shorter and can sometimes finish in a single day. A straightforward car accident jury trial more commonly takes about two days, in part because jury selection has to happen first, which can push opening statements back to the afternoon. You should plan to meet with your attorney at least a week before trial to prepare. What a jury, or a judge in a bench trial, ultimately awards is what determines what compensation you may be able to recover.
Your Role as the Client During the Lawsuit
Most clients are not involved in the daily mechanics of a lawsuit. You decide whether to file suit and authorize your attorney to do it, and your attorney’s office handles the back-and-forth with the insurance company’s lawyers from there.
Your main job is answering discovery honestly and completely, including giving your attorney a full list of every medical provider who treated you, since your firm will use your signed HIPAA release to gather the records and bills that support your claim. If the insurance company still will not settle after your deposition, expect the defense to request an independent medical examination, conducted by a doctor the insurance company selects.
When to Get a Lawyer Involved
The earlier a lawyer reviews your case, the more evidence is still available. Witness memories fade, video gets overwritten, and vehicles get repaired or scrapped. If the insurance company has already denied your claim, is delaying without explanation, or has offered a number that will not cover your medical bills and lost income, that is generally the point where filing suit becomes the realistic option.
Because some injury claims move slower toward resolution than others, and because Oklahoma law only gives you a limited amount of time to sue after a wreck, waiting too long to get a lawyer involved can end up costing you the right to sue at all.
Talk to an Oklahoma City Car Accident Lawyer About the Process
Every stage described above, from the demand packet to a jury verdict, moves faster and more effectively with an attorney handling it. Hasbrook & Hasbrook’s attorneys who represent Oklahoma City car accident clients handle each of these stages together, from the initial claim through trial if it comes to that. If your claim has stalled or the insurance company will not offer a fair settlement, contact Hasbrook & Hasbrook to talk through your options and find out what filing suit could look like for your case.
