If you have been injured in a car accident and you wish to explore your legal options, contact an attorney to discuss your legal options and develop a plan of action.
If you and your attorney decide that pursuing a lawsuit against negligent parties involved in the accident is the best plan, these are some of the things you will need to think about.
There are legal documents that will need to be filled out and then filed with the court. These documents are called pleadings, and are a necessary and crucial component of the case. Pleadings consist of different documents that detail and represent the separate stages of the lawsuit.
These include the following:
Complaint: A complaint or petition is a document that names all of the parties involved in the legal action. It will detail your account of the accident, your claims, and will include all of the important information about the accident and its circumstances. This complaint will also plainly describe your demands, the outcome you would like to see, and the actions that you would like from the defendant. These will usually include paying for your medical bills, property damage, and other expenses.
Summons: The next document that will need to be taken care of is the summons. The summons will be a notification sent to the defendant that will state your intention to file an accident lawsuit against him or her. In the summons you will state that the defendant is being sued and will give them a time and date by which the defendant has to respond to the claim and give an answer. If the defendant does not answer the summons usually this will result in a default judgment that favors the plaintiff.
Answer: If the defendant does respond to your summons, he or she has the option of denying the allegations, accepting them, or the defendant can file a counterclaim. If the response to your summons is a counterclaim, you will receive a notice stating the intentions of the counterclaim. You will then have to respond to the counterclaim in a similar manner to how the defendant answered your summons.
Once each of these steps has been followed and all the necessary paperwork has been taken are of, the next step is to wait for the defendant’s answer to your claim. Many accident victims choose to settle the case before going to trial, because it saves stress and trials can be both time consuming and costly. However, settling oftentimes means accepting a lesser sum of money than could potentially be awarded by a jury if they decide in your favor.
Together with your attorney you will determine which course of action is best. Your attorney will also discuss the matter with the defendant’s attorney, and if an agreeable settlement can be reached, the details will be sorted through and the matter will be resolved without going to court.
St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer
It is crucial to your case that you find an experienced attorney who has successfully handle car accident cases on a regular basis and can provide skilled guidance for you and your family. If you have been injured in a car accident on Missouri roads, contact The Hoffmann Law Firm. We can evaluate your case for free and help you determine the what you and your family’s legal options are.
To schedule a free consultation, call us at (314) 588-7200 or contact us online.
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