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You can suffer from injuries due to various reasons ranging from a car accident to slip and fall at the place of work. On the other hand, you can also be accused of being liable for causing the injury to someone else. In either case, you can bring a civil lawsuit for recovering your compensation or be called upon to defend yourself against it. Although accident and personal injury lawsuits can take various forms depending on the cause of the injury, the basic stages and the process remain the same. Therefore, this blog will take a closer look at the different stages of a personal injury lawsuit.
Before we begin discussing the various stages of a personal injury lawsuit, let’s take a look at the different parties involved:
A personal injury lawsuit begins after a person sustains an injury due to someone’s negligence. The victim then meets a personal injury attorney who evaluates their case and assesses whether they have the legal grounds to file a personal injury claim against the defendant.
If you have sustained injuries due to someone’s negligence, you will need to find a good injury attorney to recover the compensation for your damages. When meeting the attorney for the first time, you will likely be asked to narrate the incident that caused the injuries and provide medical records for the treatment you received. Combining these two elements, a personal injury lawyer will assess your case. This phase is crucial to understanding the strength and value of your personal injury claim. Make sure you have a list of questions ready to quiz the personal injury attorney and understand their experience and expertise in the field. You can know more about how to hire the best personal injury attorney for your case here.
After the plaintiff’s lawyer establishes legal grounds for filing a personal injury claim, they will file a complaint, also known as a petition, in a civil court. The complaint document consists of:
The complaint serves as a legal notice for the defendant, informing them about a plaintiff’s claim’s legal and factual basis. When a plaintiff submits a complaint, the civil court where the lawsuit will be heard issues a summons. Summons is an order that notifies the defendant that a civil lawsuit has been brought against them. The summons outlines the plaintiff’s complaint and sets a time limit within which the defendant needs to send an answer to the complaint or get the case dismissed. The order also sets forth the consequences that failing to answer the summon would bring upon the defendant.
Following this, the summon is served to the defendant. A summons is served by someone physically to the defendant after confirming their identity or through the mail. This is done to ensure that the defendant cannot deny receiving the summon and the complaint.
Upon receiving the summon, the defendant will typically have a month to find a lawyer and draft an answer to the complaint. If a defendant has an applicable insurance policy, they should inform the respective company to appoint and pay a lawyer for the case.
The official term used to describe a defendant’s response to a complaint is known as an answer. The defendant will draft an answer with the help of their personal injury defense attorney. Typically, the response consists of replies to each of the claims mentioned in the report in one of the following forms:
The answer from a defendant may also contain affirmative defenses outlining why they cannot be held liable for the damages suffered by the plaintiff. Besides this, the defendant has the option to make claims against the plaintiff in their response. These claims need to be mentioned in a section called counterclaims. The section lists the defendant’s claims against the plaintiff that arose from the same circumstances that led the plaintiff to file a complaint. Like the defendant, the plaintiff will then be required to file a response to the counterclaims.
The discovery phase follows the lawsuit initiation. During this phase, the plaintiff and defendant must disclose all the facts and documents relevant to the lawsuit. This is achieved through:
All the facts collected under the phase are used by both parties to evaluate their claim strengths and decide the best course of action.
Pretrial motions have the power to disposition a lawsuit and impact the course of a personal injury case. Motions are nothing but requests to the court for delivering a ruling on a particular matter. Certain motions that can result in the disposition of a personal injury lawsuit are:
The motion is filed by a defendant in the early stages of the lawsuit, typically just after filing the complaint. Facts, claims, and proof presented in the complaint is the focus of the motion. It is brought forth by a defendant who believes the complaint is legally invalid and warrants the dismissal of the lawsuit. However, the court is legally bound to view the facts and proof in the most favorable light to the plaintiff.
As the name suggests, the motion requests the court to pass judgment and summarily end it before the trial. This can be brought on by any party who feels the undisputed motions of the case compel a ruling in their favor. The motion requests the court to consider the undisputed facts in the case, apply the law to them, and pass a judgment in favor of the party who brought the motion.
If the defendant fails to file an answer to the plaintiff’s complaint or file a motion to dismiss the case during the time allotted in the summoning, the defendant is said to be in default. When this happens, the plaintiff can ask the court to note it, a procedure known as the entry of default. The entry of default means the defendant will not be allowed to contest their liability to the plaintiff. Instead, the only thing they can contest is the extent of compensation they would pay to the plaintiff.
Most personal injury lawsuits do not go to trial and instead end in settlements. Settlements can happen even before a lawsuit is filed. However, settlements occur after the discovery phase when both parties have a better understanding of the strength of their claims. When agreeing to a settlement, the plaintiff decides to give up their right to further legally pursue the defendant concerning the injuries or the accident in return for an agreed-upon compensation for the damages they incur from the defendant or their insurance company.
When everything fails, the personal injury lawsuit moves to trial. During this, a judge or jury examines the facts, claims, and evidence in the case and delivers their judgment on whether the defendant is liable to pay damages to the plaintiff. The judgment also entails the extent of compensation the plaintiff will receive. The process involves the following steps:
Both the defendant and plaintiff have the option to appeal to a higher court if they are not happy with the decision. Although most appeals fail, both parties have the option at their disposal.
