Lawsuits are essential when you want to seek redress for harm caused to you by a third party (a third party can be another person or an organization). The lawsuit often seeks to determine if the law has been broken and by whom, what harm has been done and what needs to be done to repair the harm caused.
Lawsuits in this day and age can be quite costly and time consuming and as such, careful consideration needs to be taken before deciding to take a matter to court. If the issues can find settlement out of court, this is often the most amicable course of action. However, when the issues causing conflict cannot be resolved out of court, a lawsuit may be the only course of action to take.
If you want or need to file a lawsuit, you need to be conscious of two key steps. First of all, you need to prepare the lawsuit the proper way, so that it is not rejected in court, and then you need to file the actual lawsuit.
Preparation of a Lawsuit
When preparing to file a lawsuit you need to consider the following matters.
You need to ensure that you have the capacity to sue. This means that you should be of sound mind, not mentally incapacitated in any way and that you should be of the right age, usually above 18 years of age.
You need to have a legitimate reason to bring a matter to court. This means that you need to have had direct harm from the actions of the person or organization you are suing.
You also have to be able to prove that you have been wronged by the person who you are accusing using the rules of evidence accepted by the court.
The matter or issue that you are bringing to court should still be within the statute of limitations. This means that you should not have taken longer than the prescribed amount of time determined by the law, to bring a matter to court.
You should also be able to hire the expertise of a lawyer or a law firm to represent you in court. It is important to do the necessary due diligence before deciding on a lawyer or a law firm to use because a lawyer can make or break your case. You can go online to find top consumer reviews onhow to find a good lawyer.
Filing a Lawsuit
When you have satisfied the important criteria for preparing to file a lawsuit, you actually need to file the lawsuit. You should use your lawyer to help you do this but in short, you need to consider the following important elements:
- You need to fill out all the necessary forms as you will be advised to do so by the court or by the law in your particular jurisdiction.
- You need to file a complaint and pay any necessary fees required.
- You need to have the defendant served formally with the court documents that you filed and have them appear in court and then
- Finally, you need to wait for the hearing in court after the court gives instruction on how to move forward with the court proceedings.
Author Bio
Santiago J. Gordon has been a trial attorney for the last 18 years. He also writes several top consumer reviews for different websites advising consumers and citizens on their rights. Visit his blog for more information.