What Happens When You File A Personal Injury Lawsuit?

If you are ever involved in a personal injury accident – whether it’s a slip and fall incident at a friend’s house or a car accident – you will probably hire a personal injury lawyer to help you craft a lawsuit against the guilty party. If you have done this, your attorney will tell you that there are many steps involved in a personal injury lawsuit. They are the subject of this article.

Steps involved in filing a personal injury lawsuit

There are five basic steps that any personal injury lawsuit will go through. If you have ever discussed them with your personal injury lawyer, you’d know that they are:

1. Filing – you may file a personal injury lawsuit with your local courthouse once you’ve been involved in a personal injury accident.
2. Discovery – this is where you and the defense exchange admissible evidence and information.
3. Arguments – you’ll be in the courtroom with the defendant. Both of you will be presenting and arguing your sides of the case to the judge and jury.
4. Judgment – the judge will review the arguments and evidence presented before making a final decision. This is called a judgment. It tends to include monetary compensation (to you the plaintiff) and other remedies.
5. Appeals – both you and the defendant can appeal the judgment if you don’t agree with it in a special court called an appeals court.

Do all Personal Injury claims go to court?

Your personal injury lawyer in St. Catharines will tell you something very interesting and shocking if you were to ever ask him or her this question. You’d soon learn that 95% of all personal injury cases are settled out of court. They also don’t always go through the entire lawsuit process.

For example, your personal injury case will never go to trial if you accept the first offer from the defendant’s insurance company. You may also decide to accept a settlement as the trial is in progress. The trial will stop then and there in that instance.

That said, it’s not uncommon or unusual for certain cases to drag on in the courts for several months or even years. The reason why is because the final verdict in personal injury cases that go to court is determined and influenced by many factors. Your case may even go through a re-trial.

Monetary awards for damages

Well, unfortunately, as your lawyer knows all too well, you may not always get the money you need for physical therapy sessions or to repair your damaged car. Your case may go through an injunction. You’ll have to go through certain legal steps in this instance.

Then there are instances where your personal injury case just may not qualify for certain monetary awards. A good example is punitive damages. These are designed to punish the defendant. Therefore, you may not always be awarded them. Just remember that the monetary awards that you can receive for your personal injury case depend on the state that you live in.

You should hire a personal injury lawyer,if you are ever involved in a personal injury case and want to take your case to court. This is because the lawyer is trained to resolve cases similar to yours. Therefore, you have a much higher chance of winning your case.

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