Hiring a litigation attorney can help you avoid civil litigation. The first thing an attorney will do is conduct a thorough investigation to see what evidence exists to help you defend or avoid litigation altogether. During the investigation process, witnesses will be located and interviewed, documents will be gathered and the dispute will be examined for facts. Often, there will be pre-litigation settlement talks to attempt to resolve the dispute without a lawsuit.

If the settlement talks fail to bring resolution to the matter, a variety of pleadings and motions will be made before the court in an attempt to dismiss, change or amend motions brought by the plaintiff.

The pleadings are then followed by the discovery process, where both parties exchange relevant information and argue further motions before the pre-trial phase begins. Pre-trial is a time of preparation for trial, including retaining expert witnesses and developing a trial strategy.

If it becomes impossible to avoid civil litigation, a trial will take place and both parties will present their arguments. Fortunately, in most civil cases, a settlement is reached and a trial is avoided. A settlement can be reached at any point during a civil litigation. Settlements generally come as the result of conferences, negotiations, mediation, settlement brochures, releases and other legal materials.

If a settlement is not reached and your attorney does not win your case, you can still apply for an appeal to your personal injury case.

During the appeal process, your attorney will draft post-trial motions and work to identify and document issues that provide grounds for appeal. An appeal strategy will be developed as ongoing investigations and evidence gathering continues.

Your best chances to avoid civil litigation are by working closely with a skilled and experienced attorney who understands the rules and procedures in the court process. Civil litigation can be expensive and very time consuming. A case can be drawn out for a very long time, resulting in loss of work time, ongoing stress and continuing costs. The good news is a qualified attorney will very often be able to help you reach a settlement or perhaps find reasons to dismiss the suit and help you avoid civil litigation in the first place.

Lawyers in Boston of the MA general practice law firm Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas, with offices in Wakefield and Newburyport, provide full service litigation and dispute resolution in the Boston area and throughout Massachusetts. For more than 65 years, Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas, LLP has helped clients find comprehensive, global solutions to their legal matters or disputes, taking into account the short-term goals as well as the long-term goals of each client. Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas, LLP, has a well-earned reputation for dedicated and effective representation, creative legal strategies, and successful dispute resolution – both in court and at the negotiating table. Contact Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas, LLP, for a knowledgeable resolution to your legal problem.

What is civil litigation? Civil litigation is a lawsuit whereby a party seeks damages against another party. The damages can come in the form of money or the modification of some type of conduct. For instance, one can sue for breach of contract if another party fails to live up to the terms of a written agreement. One can also sue for a restraining order to bar a competitor from using various business property such as intellectual property rights. Importantly, civil litigation is not a criminal matter, to wit, the party that loses the case does not go to jail.

The first stage of civil litigation is the pleading stage. The pleading stage simply refers to the filing of the complaint against the party that is the defendant. The defendant then has the right to contest certain elements of that complaint. The defendant can object on the grounds that the complaint does not state a cause of action against them or frivolous matters are included in the language of the complaint, to name a few arguments. At this point, the court will either find a complaint to be with or without merit. If the Court throws out the plaintiff’s complaint, the plaintiff is usually allowed to amend the language and refile it.

The next stage of civil litigation is discovery. Discovery is simply the process of learning what evidence each side has regarding the dispute. Typically a party can ask to see any supporting documents the other side has and ask them questions. Questions can be asked in written form through a legal document known as interrogatories. Questions can also be asked orally by the party’s legal counsel in a process known as a deposition. Other methods of discovery also include request for admissions, special interrogatories and various other methods specific to your state. Yep, all the rules are set forth by state in most cases.

Once discovery comes to a close, the defendant will often file something known as a motion for summary judgment. A summary judgment motion is simply an argument by the defendant that the evidence provided by the plaintiff in the case does not support a claim against the defendant. In moving for summary judgment, the court considers the law on the books and the evidence provided by the plaintiff. It views the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff before making the decision. If the court finds in favor of the defendant, the lawsuit is over. At this point, the plaintiff can either abandon the lawsuit or file an appeal to have a higher court review the matter.

Assuming the plaintiff survives a motion for summary judgment, the next technical step of a lawsuit is to actually go to trial. Before that happens, however, the parties are usually sent to an arbitration hearing in which a mediator tries to cut a deal between the parties. This process is also known as a settlement conference. If they settlement cannot be reached, the court will then set the matter for trial and off you go.