4 Things To Know About Going To Court

20 September 2017
 Categories: , Blog


If you are involved in a personal injury case because you have been injured due to another person, you are going to want to work with a personal injury lawyer. Your lawyer will then attempt to settle the case with a responsible agreement set on the settlement. However, sometimes this does not happen, in which case, your case will end up going to court. Here are four things you should know about this:

  1. It's a Long Process: The reason your personal injury lawyer is going to want to avoid going to court is that it is a long process. The best case scenario would be to settle because it can save a huge amount of time. If, however, your case does go to court, you should be prepared for the process. It's not going to go to trial right away. In fact, the first thing that needs to be done is you must file a complaint with the court. It's important to work with your lawyer on this since they will know how the complaint should be laid out to make clear what you expect to accomplish when you go to court. At this point, the person or party responsible for the injury will need to be served.
  2. You Don't Have a Lot of Time: You must be reasonable in deciding when it's time to go to court. While you want to avoid this, you typically only have a couple of years to file a complaint. If you wait too long for the hopes of settling, then your case can end up going to nothing. Work with your lawyer to determine when the right time to file a complaint would be. 
  3. Documentation Must be Submitted: Documentation of your case now must be submitted, which includes witness statements, medical bills, lost wages, and even photos of the injury. Once these are submitted, they are reviewed, which is all done before a trial date is set, thus prolonging the time once again. It's important that during this time you are not posting anything on social media, since these accounts of yours will also be reviewed. 
  4. Mediation: While it may seem pointless after already trying to settle the case, you will have to go to mediation before setting a trial date. This is because many cases can be resolved quickly in this way. However, if it's not, then this is when your case will go to trial and a judge will make the ultimate decision about your settlement amount. 

Since going to court is such a lengthy process, it's important to work with your lawyer to avoid this. Be sure to follow your lawyer's advice, which is more likely to involve in settling on a fair amount for your case in the end. 

Check out a website like http://www.gdamianilaw.com for more information and assistance. 


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