If you have arrived at this website, chances are that you or someone close to you is being sued or are considering suing someone because of their actions against you. You’ve come to the right place. The Arreaza Law Firm has been involved in every aspect of civil litigation for close to three decades. Civil litigation covers lawsuit that are over money and other relief that does not include criminal matters. It is a complicated area. Many people attempt these matters on their own. It usually proves to be frustrating. At the Arreaza law firm we walk you through the process to arrive at the best possible conclusion. To simplify the process, we have created this web page. In the following paragraph we will give you an example of how the process works. This may answer many of your questions. If you would like an individual opinion specific to your situation, we have a section where you could send us your questions. We will look it over and send you back an opinion.
THE PROCESS
The process begins by someone deciding that they are going to initiate a lawsuit. This is done because of many reasons, ranging from the loss of money to someone just feeling wronged. You and your attorney will decide the cause of action that you will be suing for and then a complaint will be prepared. The first decision to make after preparing the complaint is where to file the lawsuit. If you are suing for less than $15,000.00 then the lawsuit will be filed in county court. If you are suing for more than $15,00.00 or other specific reasons outlined by the Florida rules of civil procedure, then the lawsuit will be filed in circuit court. TA filing fee will be required to file a lawsuit. The amount to be paid will depend on where the lawsuit is filed. Once the lawsuit is filed it will be taken to the person being sued by a process server. This is called being “served”. The person suing is called the “plaintiff”. The person being sued is called the “the defendant”. Once the defendant is served, they will have 20 days to answer the complaint. The defendant will have several choices on how to answer the complaint. They could file a motion challenging the validity of the lawsuit from a technical point by filing a motion, could answer and counterclaim or just answer. If the defendant files a counterclaim, then the plaintiff now becomes a defendant, and they will have to file an answer to your claim.
After the complaint is answer the process of discovery will begin. The parties will be able to file documents that will require the other side to turn over information. They are request for admissions, request to produce, and interrogatories. Once this information is received by the party requesting the information then the party receiving information will set up what is called a deposition. This is when the party will have to answer questions under oath. The only answers that they will not have to answer is what is found to be privileged information. Once the deposition is completed the parties will be given an opportunity to order the transcript of the deposition. This transcript is ordered to have this information to use at trial, to remind the party of what was said or just to help them in the attorneys in deciding how to proceed with case. At this point the parties can announce to the court that they are ready for trial. This is usually done by filing a notice for trial. Once the notice is filed the judge will prepare a pretrial order and will more than likely order mediation prior to trial. If mediation fails, then you will go forward with trial.