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Author: Kelly Thacker Article source: http://www.articlealley.com/. Used with author's permission.
If you're involved in a lawsuit and proceedings are about to start, you've probably heard the term litigation. Litigation is a way that two parties can resolve disputes. Litigation generally describes all of the proceedings surrounding a trial. It encompasses criminal and civil lawsuits. Litigation can occur between businesses, individuals, businesses and individuals, individuals and the government or businesses and the government. Litigation also refers to the proceedings in a class action lawsuit.
A class action litigation or law suit is between many people who have similar or exactly the same claim and one plaintiff. It would be common for a group of consumers who had been misled or harmed in some way to collectively sue the company in a class action lawsuit. Class action suits allow a judge to make one decision that all parties involved must abide by. This saves the court a lot of time since they don't have to run a trial for each and every person involved.
There are a few steps involved in litigation. The purpose of litigation is to try and prevent a lot of cases going to trial. Many disputes can be settled before going to court. Most of the time, this requires a third party to step in and help everyone involved come to a decision that seems fair based on the facts and evidence presented. Most cases are solved this way.
First there is generally some type of demand from one party to another. The initial demand is an informal request presented by one party. The other party will respond. Lawyers or litigators are usually working for each side by this point and will advise each side on what to do. A litigator would answer questions about whether or not the demands are reasonable based on the facts, or not. Initial demand meetings can be face to face or just over the phone.
If nothing is settled in the initial demand meeting then a formal demand letter may be required. The lawyer from the side making the demand will provide the letter. Usually this is the stage where some sort of settlement is made because the side receiving the letter sees that the defendant is serious about their demand. Litigation lawyers will try to settle things at this stage to avoid going to court.
If nothing is settled by this point, then an actual law suit is filed. Once filed, then certain steps must be taken within certain time frames for the defendant to maintain their rights to sue. The statute of limitations could run out and the case would be dropped if the defendant missed a deadline. If the plaintiff doesn't provide an official answer to the charges within the specified time frame, then the plaintiff would default and lose their right to fight the claims against them.
The next step is pre-trial discovery. In this stage, both sides will gather and present all of the evidence that they can come up with to each other. Witnesses may be called in and their testimonies will also be considered more evidence. Discovery prevents either side from being blind-sided with evidence that they didn't know existed in court. Sometimes a court arbitrator is brought in to decide the case before it goes to trial. This is helpful, especially if evidence presented clearly indicates that one party is right about their claim or innocence.
If no agreement can be reached after all appropriate steps have been taken, then the case will go to trial and all parties must abide by the judges decision. If you're going being involved in a law suit, it is highly advised that you seek out a litigation lawyer.
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