Your future may feel uncertain and stressful after an injury due to another person’s actions. You must attend doctor visits, settle piles of bills, and wonder what will happen to your future. On top of it all, dealing with the legal system to seek damages can be a challenging task.

This article clears up this uncertainty by discussing the personal injury process. Knowing the seven phases of a personal injury lawsuit in California helps you understand what to expect at every stage. You also learn to make sound decisions while fighting for your deserved compensation.

  1. Stage 1: Initial Legal Advice and Case Investigation

The first step on your path to justice involves consulting a professional lawyer. Once you have addressed your urgent medical requirements, the next thing to do is to book an initial lawyer appointment.

In this private session, your personal injury lawyer will ask that you share the details of your accident. They will pose specific questions to assess the main elements of your potential case, such as liability, damages, and the defendant's financial capacity. This is the time to know your case's weaknesses and strengths through the eyes of a professional who has been down this road numerous times.

If you and the attorney choose to proceed, they will initiate an in-depth investigation of the case immediately. This is the most critical evidence-gathering step that will be the foundation of your entire claim. Your lawyer will gather and retain all the pertinent information at the back end. They will get the official police/incident report, which gives the first account of what occurred. They will also obtain all your medical records and bills to link the incident to your injuries.

In addition, your lawyer will locate and question any eyewitnesses whose evidence may help you in your case. In most instances, they will also send a spoliation letter to the at-fault party, which legally binds them to preserve critical evidence, such as the security camera footage or vehicle data recorder, which would otherwise be destroyed. This evidence helps build the strongest possible foundation for your case before any formal legal action begins.

  1. Stage 2: Filing the Claim and Pre-Litigation Negotiations

After gathering enough evidence, the next step is to formally inform the insurance company of the at-fault party of your intent to seek compensation. Your lawyer will carefully write and submit a demand letter for personal injury. This is a detailed document, not just a request to be paid, but a professional legal argument.

The letter will outline the facts of the incident, clarify why the insured client is legally at fault, and give a complete accounting of your damages. This encompasses your economic damages, including medical and lost wages, and your non-economic damages, including pain and suffering. The letter ends with a certain amount of money requested to resolve the injury claim without going to court.

When the demand is received, the insurance company will send an adjuster to your case. Very rarely does an adjuster accept the first demand. Their role is to guard the company's bottom line by reducing payouts. As a result, they will certainly retaliate with a significantly lower counteroffer.

In many cases, they will seek to ascertain the extent of your injuries or place some of the blame on you. This begins a phase of insurance claim discussion. Your lawyer will play a chess game of back and forth with the adjuster, presenting the evidence you have collected during Stage 1 to shatter their arguments and prove the worth of your claim.

This step of negotiation may take weeks or even months. Many personal injury cases can be successfully settled at this point, and a fair settlement can be reached, saving you time and money that would otherwise be spent in formal litigation.

  1. Stage 3: Filing the Lawsuit

Pre-litigation negotiations may halt, and the insurance company may decline to pay a reasonable settlement, thus leading to the need to take the case to the next level by initiating a personal injury lawsuit. This is your official initiation into the court system, and the litigation process starts.

The first papers submitted to the court are the so-called pleadings, which state the legal conflict before the judge and all participants. Your attorney will prepare and file these essential documents; each detail must comply with the strict court rules.

The Complaint and Summons

The initial complaint that your attorney files is termed the Complaint. This is a legal form that initiates your lawsuit. It refers to you as the plaintiff and the at-fault party as the defendant. The complaint states the facts of the occurrence of your injury, the legal reasoning as to why the defendant should pay your damages, and the remedy you seek in court. 

After the complaint has been filed, the court then issues a summons, or official notice, to the defendant that they are being sued and must answer within a given time. The next step will be for your attorney to have a neutral third party, a process server, formally deliver the Complaint and Summons to the defendant, which completes the process of service of process.

The Defendant's Answer

The defendant is then expected to legally respond to your lawsuit by filing the “Answer” after being served. In this pleading, the defendant should answer each charge in your complaint by admitting, denying, or stating they lack sufficient information. Their chance to tell their story to the court is the answer.

Notably, the defendant will also assert any affirmative defenses they may have in the answer. These are legal arguments that, though the claims in your complaint may be true, there are other reasons why the defendant should not be held accountable for your injuries. The pleadings stage is finished by filing the answer, and the lawsuit enters the second stage.

  1. Stage 4: The Discovery Process – Exchanging Information

After the pleadings, your case proceeds to the most time-consuming and labor-intensive part of litigation: the personal injury discovery process. The basic idea behind this step is to enable each of you and the defendant to seek and have access to all the facts and evidence pertinent to the other party.

This formal exchange of evidence aims to prevent surprises at trial, clarify disputed issues, and allow both parties to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each other’s case. The legal stage of discovery depends on various essential tools that reveal information.

Interrogatories

Interrogatories are one of the initial elements in discovery. Your attorney submits these written inquiries to the defendant, and his attorneys submit them to you. The recipient must supply written responses to these questions on oath. Interrogatories are used to collect simple factual information, including who the other party might have as witnesses, the chronology of events as the other party would see them, and the insurance policies that might be involved.

Requests for Production

Second are document production requests. These are written requests that are formal and require the other party to furnish copies of certain documents, photographs, videos, or any other physical evidence about the case. Indicatively, your attorney may seek the defendant's phone records during the period leading up to a car crash or the maintenance records of a premise where an accident happened. Equally, the defense will demand that you produce documents, including all the medical records and bills concerning your treatment.

Depositions

Depositions are one of the most essential tools in the discovery process. A deposition is a face-to-face, sworn testimony, which is not provided in court. When you are deposed, opposing counsel will pose questions to you directly.

A court reporter will make a word-for-word transcript of all that is said. Your lawyer will also depose the defendant and any other vital witnesses. Depositions allow attorneys to take sworn, out-of-court testimony to preserve witnesses’ statements, assess credibility, and uncover facts that may not appear in written records. A court reporter produces a verbatim transcript for later use in motions or at trial.

Requests for Admission

Lastly, lawyers employ requests for admission. They are written statements, and one party sends them to the other, requesting them to accept or reject the truth of a given fact. For example, your lawyer may urge the defendant to confess that they were the vehicle's driver in the accident. If the defendant pleads guilty to the statement, it would be deemed to have been proven throughout the case, which would aid in reducing the issues to be determined during trial.

  1. Stage 5: Pre-Trial Motions and Mediation

The discovery phase is completed, and your case enters a phase of critical legal maneuvering and final settlement. At this point, each of the attorneys presents several pre-trial motions to the court, requesting the court to decide on some issues of law before the trial. At this time, a formal, organized settlement conference called mediation can occur, which is also a key chance at alternative dispute resolution.

Key Pre-Trial Motions

Attorneys use motions to carve out the battlefield during trial. To illustrate, in case the defendant has not fully responded to your interrogatories, your lawyer may file a motion to compel, requesting the judge to order him to do so. A more critical filing is a motion for summary judgment. This is an application to the judge asking that he/she decide on one side of the case without a trial because the facts are so undisputed that the law can only lead to one conclusion. Decisions on such motions affect each party's leverage in the lead-up to the final phases of the lawsuit.

Mediation

Understanding that trials are costly, time-consuming, and unpredictable, most courts highly recommend that parties seek to mediate on personal injury matters before a trial date. Mediation is a non-binding process that is confidential and in which you, your attorney, the defendant, and his attorney sit with a neutral third-party mediator. This referee, who may be a retired judge or an accomplished lawyer, is not in a position to rule on the case.

Instead, they are supposed to help in a fruitful discussion. The mediator will usually sit down individually with each party, discuss the merits and flaws of their different stands, and consider compromises. This narrow negotiation is designed to enable the two parties to seek a middle ground and settle the case amicably, thus eliminating the dangers and pressure of a trial.

  1. Stage 6: The Trial

The last step, which involves presenting your case before a judge or a jury, applies only to the small percentage of personal injury cases that do not settle or mediate. The trial procedure of personal injury is an organized and strict process, where both parties can provide their evidence, interrogate the witnesses, and argue in their favor or against them. The trial process in a lawsuit can be divided into several stages with a specific purpose in the court process.

Jury Selection

“If your case goes to a jury trial, jury selection (voir dire) begins. In voir dire, the judge and each side’s attorneys question potential jurors to identify impartial jurors and excuse those with biases. The idea is to find and choose persons who can be just and unbiased in ruling your case. Lawyers may request that the court dismiss possible jurors who might discriminate against their client.

Opening Statements

The trial starts with the opening statements after the jury has been selected and sworn in. The first person to speak will be your attorney, who will give the jury a road map of your case. They will explain to the jury what they believe the evidence will show and why it proves the defendant caused your injuries. The defense attorney will then make their opening statement and provide their side of the case and why they feel their client should not be detained. 

Presenting Evidence and Witness Testimony

This is the heart of the trial. Your attorney will argue your case-in-chief, which includes witnessing your case by calling witnesses to testify in your favor and presenting evidence like medical records, photographs, and expert reports. The defense attorney has the right to question a witness (cross-examination) after your attorney questioned them (direct examination).

After your case has been put forward on either side, you rest your case. Then the defense puts its case on, brings its witnesses, and introduces its evidence, and your attorney can cross-examine them.

Closing Arguments

Once both parties have given the evidence, the attorneys present their closing arguments. This is the last opportunity they have to talk to the jury. Your lawyer will highlight the primary evidence used in the trial and make a compelling case for why that evidence should make the jury rule in your favor. The defense lawyer will give an overview of their case, arguing that the evidence fails to support your claim.

Jury Deliberation and Verdict

The judge will then give the jury a series of legal instructions after the closing arguments to clarify the applicable laws and the guidelines they should use on the facts of the case. The jury then goes to a separate room to commence the deliberation. They will examine the evidence and deliberate on the case until they conclude.

When they have agreed upon a verdict, they return to the courtroom, and the foreperson declares the verdict, whether they have found the defendant liable, and the amount of compensation they have awarded you.

  1. Stage 7: Post-Trial — Gathering the Judgment and Appeals

A favorable decision in court can be the reward of a long and challenging process; however, there may still be several significant steps to take. Once the lawsuit's verdict is made, the next step is to enforce the court's decision and address any possible obstacles of the opposing party. This last step assures the translation of the decision made by the jury to the real compensation you deserve.

Collecting the Awarded Judgment

The jury's decision becomes final once the judge formally enters it into the court record as a judgment. This makes legally concrete the sum of money that the defendant owes to you. The second is gathering a verdict. The payment is usually completed promptly, especially when a large insurance company is involved.

Nevertheless, when the defendant is not insured or declines to pay, an additional legal action might be required by your attorney to enforce the judgment. This may include garnishment of the defendant's wages, a lien on property, or other assets to pay the amount you received.

Post-Trial Motions and the Appeals Process

The defeated party does not need to accept the trial's result. They are entitled to make post-trial motions to the trial judge requesting that they either reverse the jury verdict or minimize the damages given to them based on purported legal errors committed during the trial. Failure in these motions may result in an appeal by the losing party in a personal injury case to a superior court. An appeal is not a second trial; it is not a trial in which new evidence or testimony is introduced. 

Instead, the written record of the trial will be reviewed by a panel of appellate judges to find out whether any legal mistakes were significant and which may have influenced the result. The appeals process may be time-consuming, adding a year or more to the ultimate resolution of your case. Throughout this process, your attorney will still be present to defend your verdict and fight to see that you receive the compensation that you were given.

Find a Reliable Personal Injury Lawyer Near Me

A personal injury lawsuit in Los Angeles is challenging, and processes are involved at every step. The road must be taken with a keen eye for detail, tactical decision-making, and an unblinking dedication to safeguarding your rights throughout the investigation to the ultimate judgment day. Though this guide is a good road map, it takes the experience and expertise of a professional lawyer to follow these steps.

You do not need to go through these phases alone if you have been injured and should file a lawsuit. The seasoned lawyers of The Personal Injury Attorney Law Firm are on hand to assist you with expertise and understanding. We know how physical, emotional, and financial an injury can be, and we are committed to working through the legal aspects of it so that you can concentrate on your recovery.

We will be your personal champion, give you professional legal advice at all levels, and do everything in our power to ensure you get all the compensation you are entitled to. Call us today at 800-492-6718 for an obligation-free consultation to discuss your case.