What To Do After Filing a Personal Injury Complaint
Once you have made the decision to file a complaint with a court to initiate a claim for personal injury, there are a number of different scenarios which can arise upon your filing. After filing your complaint, a summons detailing the nature of the claim and the legal violations which must be addressed by the opposing party will be served upon the defendant. The defendant then has a set amount of time to answer the complaint, or risk being forced to pay any damages or perform stated legal remedies as laid out in the complaint, without the benefit of trial or counterargument.
In most cases, a defendant will, in fact, send an answer. In the answer, the defendant will usually address all of the points laid out in the separate paragraphs in the complaint, either admitting to the charges laid out against him or her, or denying them. In some cases the defendant will claim insufficient knowledge as to the charges being leveled at him or her, and therefore, an inability to admit or deny. Upon addressing the charges, the answer will then lay out defenses against the specific legal grounds upon which the defendant is being sued, and attempt to explain why the defendant is not liable for the plaintiff’s damages, and should not have to pay them. It is not uncommon for the defendant to include a motion to dismiss on the grounds that he or she is not liable for the damages being asked, which is essentially a request to the court to dismiss the entire matter without need for trial for lack of legal grounds to pursue the claim.
Besides the aforementioned elements of the defendant’s answer, a defendant will sometimes have his or her own claim to bring against the plaintiff, but it must arise out of the same incident for which the plaintiff’s complaint was filed, or it should not be included in the answer. The counterclaim is laid out in the same way as the plaintiff’s claim, only included in the actual answer. Similar to the defendant’s answer, a plaintiff can file a reply, which addresses all of the counterclaim’s points, and offers up defenses.
Throughout this process, it’s important to have a good personal injury lawyer who can explain the various elements of the pre-trial and trial process to you. Going it alone is unadvisable as it leaves one vulnerable to legal maneuvering and procedural tricks that can leave the plaintiff losing out on potential damages without even realizing it. Of course, simply hiring a personal injury lawyer is not enough. There are plenty of those in Los Angeles, Orange County, and all over southern California. Hiring the best for the job is the guarantee one needs to know that their claim is being handled seriously, with full intentions of attaining damages and full compensation for the personal injury suffered by all victims involved. There are skilled Los Angeles personal injury lawyers who potential plaintiffs can contact through the California Attorney Group. Bringing experience, skill and client satisfaction to the table, these personal injury lawyers will guide you through the pre-trial process with an eye towards getting you all of the compensation you deserve through a settlement, or going all the way to trial and winning. Go into this process prepared with the right lawyer by your side and your chances of winning your desired damages increases exponentially.
