Hi, this is Frank Sedita, an attorney with Ramji Law Group, P.C. Today, I’m going over civil litigation, and personal injury cases. Civil litigation is the process in which you file a lawsuit against somebody that is injured or caused you damages. The first step in that, is drafting the lawsuit. We draft the lawsuit which has to be served on the defendants in the case. Once they’re served by either a constable or private civil Process Server, they have 20 days to respond to the lawsuit.
After that, both sides try to exchange, and request documents from each other. This is called discovery, and just like discovery sounds. We’re trying to discover what information, the other side has, so both sides ask each other for information and documents relevant to the case.
Also within the discovery process is the deposition, a deposition can be taken from parties or witnesses of the case, a deposition is questions under oath that have the same effect and condition as they would in court. We definitely prepare you for deposition, and making sure you answer in a correct and proper manner. After that, usually takes place mediation. Mediation is an informal settlement conference in which both sides get together to try and resolve the case without the need of court intervention. If that doesn’t work, usually the next step is going to trial. There are two types of trials that you can have. You can either have a bench trial that’s in front of the judge, or jury trial that has a jury. Jury trials tend to take longer to get on the docket, and those take anywhere between 18 months to two years to get these days, a bench trial. On the other hand bench trials are easier to get on the docket and take less time to do.
