For the accident victim that has sought compensation for a personal injury, the steps in a lawsuit may seem like landmarks. Each of them moves the plaintiff/victim closer to his or her goal.
First the client-lawyer relationship forms
The Personal Injury Lawyer in Kitchener helps the client to provide proof of his or her injury. The client’s attorney seeks the answer to this question: Does the defendant have insurance?
The lawyer-client team files a complaint
• The complaint gets filed in a civil court.
• The plaintiff’s lawyer locates the defendant; the same lawyer serves the defendant with the necessary papers, the ones that give the date and time for the scheduled trial.
• The defendant hires an attorney or contacts the insurance company.
• The plaintiff must wait for the defendant’s response.
Pre-trial events and eventual trial
• Both sides attend a discovery session.
• During the discovery lawyers for both parties question the witnesses. In that way, each side learns about the evidence collected by the opposing party.
• If the plaintiff has presented a large amount of convincing evidence, the defendant might agree to an out-of-court settlement.
• On the other hand, if the plaintiff has failed to produce a suitable amount of convincing evidence, the defendant could request a summary judgment. If the judge agrees to issue a summary judgment, there is no trial.
If the trial will go forward as planned, the jury selection takes place. At the start of the trial, each of the lawyers presents an opening statement. After the opening statements, each of the lawyers gets a chance to call and question selected witnesses. After one attorney has questioned a particular witness, the opposing attorney gets to cross-examine that same witness.
Either side has the right to approach the judge at any stage of the trial. At that point, both lawyers could get called into the judge’s chambers. While they are in those chambers, either side could decide to settle the case, before announcement of the jury’s decision. The lawyers’ role ends when each of them gives a closing statement. After that the jury deliberates and then announces its decision.
Following the trial, either side has the right to seek an appeal. Depending on the ruling by the judge for the appeal hearing, the jury’s decision could be reversed. If an appeal hearing gets held, both sides get exposed to a growing amount of evidence. That exposure increases the chances that either side might agree to an out-of-court settlement. The legal system does not place any limit on the number of appeals that can be made by the parties in any given case. That approach provides each of the opposing parties with a growing number of reasons for agreeing to an out-of-court settlement.