Steps to File a Personal Injury Lawsuit
If you have been injured in an accident, chances are you are confused and do not know exactly what to do about the circumstances you find yourself in. You may be out of work for a while tending to your injuries, but the bills—both your regular bills and medical bills do not stop coming just because you are not working. Fortunately, there is something that you can do under the law to address these concerns.
The goal after you or a loved one has suffered injuries from an accident is to seek and obtain monetary compensation for your injuries. This is accomplished through a legal process that has several steps that must be followed to be successful. You always want assistance from a personal injury law firm that handles your type of case in the Bay Area.
After Your Injury
The first thing to do is to immediately seek medical treatment for your injuries. However, once you start receiving treatment, bills for the treatment will also start flowing.
The question that likely arises for you and anyone in your situation is how are you supposed to pay these medical bills? You may, in some cases, have these bills paid by health care insurance, but this is often not enough to cover all your costs, and you might have deductibles, copays, co-insurance, and more.
If your injuries are serious enough to cost you more than what your insurance covers, your next move may be to file a personal injury claim against the individual or entity that caused the accident that resulted in your injury.
California uses its civil court system for lawsuits like this to make the injured person “whole” – meaning to put you in the financial position you were in before the accident that caused your injuries.
The same law provides the following three venues to pursue your personal injury claim:
- Division of Workers’ Compensation for a work-related injury
- Small claims court for a claim in an amount less than $10,000
- California civil court (Superior Court) for an amount greater than $10,000
Filing a Personal Injury Case in California
A personal injury claim that is not work-related and involves damages over $10,000 is handled in the California civil court system. To pursue a personal injury claim in the civil court system, you must generally follow the following steps:
Step 1: Establish legal standing
To file a lawsuit in California, you must have legal standing, which is basically the right to file a lawsuit.
To establish that you have this right, you must:
- Be directly linked to the subject of the lawsuit. Put another way, you must have been directly harmed by the person or entity you are suing, either through their action or inaction.
- Be the legal entity. In other words, you must be either a person or entity that has legal status to file a lawsuit.
- Have legal capacity. The law precludes children under age 18 and adults who are mentally incompetent because of illness, age, or infirmity from establishing legal capacity, meaning none of those in those categories can sue anyone by themselves in the California civil court system. However, someone who has legal capacity can file a lawsuit as a representative.
Step 2: Hire a lawyer
This is an important step that can affect the level of success you achieve at the end of the legal process. The decision is also personal, as you must select a lawyer with who you believe you will work well. You’ll need to be at ease and comfortable sharing private information with your lawyer, and you need to trust that they will have your back throughout the legal process.
Step 3: Determine the venue for your lawsuit
A lawsuit must be filed in the county where:
- Most of the witnesses live or where the accident occurred
- The defendant in the lawsuit lives or has its principal place of business
- You live or have your principal place of business
There may be more than one venue that is suitable or acceptable for your case, and in that situation, your attorney can advise as to which would be best to file the case.
Step 4: File Your Case Before Expiration of Statute of Limitations
California law provides time periods by which an injured person must file their claim. This time starts counting from the date the accident happened. If you fail to file your case by that deadline, you lose your right to file a lawsuit based on your injury forever.
The statute of limitation for personal injury in California in 2 years counted from the date the accident happened that caused the injury or injuries for which you are suing.
Step 5: File your complaint
Before undertaking this step, your lawyer would have tried to negotiate a settlement with the person or entity you are suing. A settlement is an agreement on a monetary value the person or entity should pay you instead of taking the case to a judge or jury to decide what compensation, if any, you deserve. If your lawyer and the other side agree on a settlement, then everyone involved – including you – can benefit.
If they do not reach an agreement, then the case will likely go to court, which means a formal complaint must be filed with the civil court clerk’s office.
Once this step is taken and the complaint is filed, then the stakes are elevated.
Here, your lawyer can start working toward trial preparation, which will include finding and hiring expert witnesses, conducting additional investigations to identify new evidence, and many court filings back and forth between your lawyer and the other side.
When a case reaches this stage, you may not have much to do but wait for your lawyer’s direction and instructions. You may have to appear for a deposition, which is basically being asked and answering questions under oath asked by the other side’s lawyer, or you could be asked to submit to additional medical exams. How this plays out will depend on the nature of your case and the strategy your lawyer wishes to pursue to prevail in the end.
Speak with a San Francisco, CA Personal Injury Attorney Today
If you have a personal injury case you wish to pursue, The Cartwright Law Firm, Inc. is ready to help. Please contact us now for a free review of your case call 415-433-0444.
