Insurance Injury Settlement

My chain is being pulled in auto accident lawsuit i have that’s been going on since february 2006 ? 1st of all i was in a auto accident as the front seat passenger in which my driver was not at fault he was an elderly man but that did not had anything to do with the lawsuit recently he passed away a few months after the accident i had to take out a loan for personal reasons of 5 thousand dollars being i was out of work and being advise not to return back too work since then my loan have grew to almost 12 thousand dollars i was hoping my lawsuit would’ve been over by now in a meantime every time i had some sorta appointment it always was postponed by the other parties involved such as my deposition and then my arbitration was postponed a few weeks every time this happens my loan grows more and more i recently was awarded 20 thousand dollars in july during my arbitration however i was told by my lawyer that the insurance company has 30 days to appeal the decision in which he said they did so now i am waiting on a trial date he recently told me he had a telephone settlement conference that did not go well i heard they only offer 10 thousand dollars i find this hard to believe that the insurance company will keep fighting a measly 20 grand i heard my trial date is 10-21-08 now i hear they are pushing that date back what should i ask him being i only want 4000 thousand for my pockets by november is this possible