There are almost 40 million personal injury lawsuits that occur each year that require medical attention.
Obviously, the first thing you need to do if you are injured is take care of the injury. You should seek medical attention right away.
Once you do that, it’s time to fail a personal injury lawsuit. But what should you expect when you do this? What’s the timeline and what does filing a lawsuit entail?
Read on to learn more about it!
Meet With a Personal Injury Lawyer
When you are ready to file a case, you need to meet with a personal injury lawyer.
By meeting with them, they will be able to provide a professional opinion about whether you have a claim or not. Be sure that when you meet with them you bring your supporting documentation, any medical records you have, and anything else you feel would be helpful to bring to your lawyer.
If you feel that you get along with the lawyer and they feel that you have a case, you can evaluate and start working with the personal injury attorney.
At this point, they will start to file a claim or complaint on your behalf.
Filing a Lawsuit
Once you start working with the lawyer, the complaint is the first official document in a case that you open. Basically, this states what the defendant did and how the plaintiff was harmed in the situation.
Within a month, the attorney has a month to find the defendant to serve the complaint.
As part of these papers, there will be a date summoning the defendant to court.
At this point, the defendant will most likely also hire an attorney to help their case.
Pre-Trial
Once everyone has a lawyer, the discovery phase starts. This is when there will be filing of evidence and witness information.
There will be intermittent court appearances during this pre-trial and discovery period in order to determine when the actual trial date occurs.
As the date gets closer, the efforts will also ramp up for attorneys and their clients to show up at conferences. A jury will also be selected in the pre-trial phase.
Trial Phase
The last phase is the trial phase. This is when the judge and jury will determine if the defendant is at fault for the accident/injury of the plaintiff.
Once this is determined, a settlement will occur between the defendant and the plaintiff.
What to Expect from a Personal Injury Lawsuit
If you have been injured and are thinking about filing a claim for a personal injury lawsuit, this article can guide you through the process!
Now you know what to expect before you get started.
If you’ve been thinking about starting and now know what to do, we want to help you! At McDonald Worley, we have years of expertise with these cases to help you win. Contact us today.