I am now in a lawsuit – what can I expect in the course of litigation?

One of the most stress filled moments of a person’s life is when they are involved in a lawsuit. There will generally be many steps before and after the lawsuit but the main steps are listed here for an overall understanding.  First, if you are suing someone you will begin the lawsuit by filing a summons and complaint against that person and “serving” them with a copy of the documents. Second, the person being sued will have to answer the complaint. If the person fails to answer the complaint, then the most likely scenario is that a default judgement will be entered against the person being sued. In the vast majority of my cases either the parties settle their dispute by this point or the default ends the suit with the judgment.

In cases where there is a summons and complaint and the person being sued answers the complaint, then there is a hearing set up and in many cases settlement happens at this hearing or shortly after. If the parties are unable to come to an agreement, then the hearing is usually used to set dates for trial progression or another hearing is set for more time to continue negotiating towards settlement.

If the hearing is conducted as a pretrial then dates will be set on the court calendar, allowing for discovery of issues, for motions (added legal steps) to be taken, and then for a trial date to be set.  In most trials,  the judge decides the outcome and this is called a bench trial, but in some cases, a jury trial is chosen. In small cases, the expected time to go through the entire process can be 4-9 months or longer. In larger cases, with more issues in question, cases can go on for years.

If you have been served with a summons and complaint or if you have an issue that might need to be litigated, please seek counsel that is well versed in litigating cases.  We can help!

Todd Courser   810-245-0813