Personal Injury Lawsuit Process

Accidents involving trucks are always difficult and unfortunately, sometimes these accidents cannot be easily resolved. While nobody wants to deal with a lawsuit because they are often complicated and time-consuming, they are sometimes unavoidable if you want a fair and satisfactory outcome for your personal injury claim.

It is important to understand the personal injury lawsuit process, but remember, every personal injury case is different. If you’ve been injured in a truck accident due to another driver’s negligence, we at 844 See Mike are here for you every step of the way to ensure that your rights are protected, and you are fully compensated for your injuries and losses.

Filing a Complaint and Service

The first step in the personal injury lawsuit process is filing a complaint. This complaint is written up by your lawyer and is an outline of what happened in your case and how the other party or parties was negligent. A complaint will also have the monetary amount in damages you are seeking for things such as medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages, loss of enjoyment of a normal life, emotional distress, disfigurement, and disability, among others. The complaint will then be filed in the proper court by your attorney.

After the complaint is filed, the defendant (or defendants) will be served with the summons and complaint against them. This is normally done through the local sheriff, certified mail, or a process server and is an important part of the personal injury lawsuit process. Without a completed Service of Process, the court will have no jurisdiction over the defendant and cannot issue a judgment against them. If there is trouble serving the defendant, the courts will usually grant a time extension as long as reasonable actions are being taken to find the appropriate defendant in your case.

Defendant Response

Once the defendant is served, they have a limited time to respond to the summons and the response must be filed within the court. If the defendant fails to respond to your complaint, you may be awarded a default judgment as long as it is shown that the summons was in fact delivered.
More than likely, though, the defendant will file a response to your allegations and your case will proceed to the pre-trial phase known as Discovery.

Discovery

The discovery phase is a pre-trial phase where your lawyer will investigate the facts of the case and gather evidence using various types of discovery.
These types of discovery include:

• Requests for Admissions

Requests for Admissions is when each party submits carefully worded questions and requests for evidence to the other party as a way to determine the evidence that will be used in the case. This includes facts surrounding the case, their legal argument, names of witness and statements they have given, the calculations used for damages, and a description of any documents relevant to the case. Each party is also required to file an affidavit that it followed all rules regarding the answers it has given.

• Interrogatories

Interrogatories are similar to requests for admissions, except there is a limit to the amount of questions that can be sent unless the court orders more or the other party agrees to allowing more be sent. The party who receives the interrogatories has a limited amount of time to respond and all parties must be provided with a copy of these questions.

• Request to Produce

A request to produce is when one party asks the other for documents, electronic information, or access to other property for inspection. This is where a lawyer will find most of the physical evidence related to a case and can involve the subpoena of people or documentation. In truck accidents this will include information such as black box recordings, trucking maintenance records, driving records, and dash cam footage.

• Depositions

Depositions are recorded testimony under oath and in the presence of a court reporter as well as representatives from all involved parties. The testimony taken during a deposition is often used to make sure the testimony in a trial is the same or if someone cannot get to court to testify in the trial due to illness or distance.

Motions

When the discovery phase is completed, the lawyer for either side will often submit a written argument, known as a motion, for a summary judgment to avoid going to a full trial. This is a request for the judge to rule based on the legalities and information provided and is a way to save both parties time and money, especially when the facts are indisputable.
Negotiations

During any point of the personal injury lawsuit process, either party may attempt to negotiate a settlement. In fact, 95-96% of all personal injury lawsuits settle before ever making it to trial.

Pretrial Hearings

When a case does not settle before a trial, there are often hearings for the attorneys to keep the judge updated on the status of the case. The parties are not required to attend these pretrial hearings, attorneys for all parties will attend on their behalf.

Trial

A trial is where everyone goes to court to present their cases to a jury. A trial has several phases, including:

• Jury Selection
• Opening Statements
• Plaintiff’s Case
• Defendant’s Case
• Closing Arguments
• Jury Instructions
• Deliberation
• Verdict

If a verdict does not come out in your favor, you do have the opportunity to appeal, as long as there are legal grounds for an appeal.

We at 844 See Mike are proud to serve our fellow citizens in personal injury cases, especially when you or a loved one has been injured in a truck accident, and we are fully committed to protecting your rights and ensuring that the other party is held legally accountable when negligence occurs. We will fight until the very end to ensure that you are fully compensated for all injuries and losses resulting from the accident, including medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and pain and suffering, and you won’t owe us a dime for our services.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto accident due to another’s negligence, contact 844 See Mike for a free consultation. Helping our clients is about counseling, advocating, and ultimately solving problems. With years of experience successfully representing the people and not the powerful, we will take care of the insurance adjusters, your medical bills, your property damage, and your lost wages, and monitor your treatment so you can focus on healing and getting your life back to normal. We will handle your case quickly and advise you every step of the way, and we will not hesitate to go to trial for you.

Lastly, 844 See Mike is not paid attorneys’ fees unless we win your case. Our no-fee promise is that simple. You have nothing to risk when you hire us – only the opportunity to seek justice.