The first step in this process is to locate the courthouse for the jurisdiction where you will have to file your lawsuit. This will be in the county where the accident occurred or where the defendant resides.
Go to the clerk's office of the court and obtain the forms you will need to file your lawsuit. This will include a summons and complaint for personal injury as well as any other forms required by local court rule.
Prepare the forms according to the instructions by filling in the appropriate information. The narrative portion of your complaint for personal injury should be concise and include only the essential facts of the accident.
You will need to first draft a complaint in these forms. A complaint is the initial pleading in a lawsuit.
This outlines the reasons you are suing the defendant. Set up the style of the pleading by including the court name, the plaintiff's name, defendant's name, a place for the case number, and the title of the document.
Next, you will need to create the foreword. Each paragraph below this is numbered.
If you have more than one cause of action, each cause of action should have its own section in the document. After the forward you need to identify and outline jurisdiction.
You must say what county and state you live in and where you suffered the injury. You must also, for each defendant listed, identify the county and state where the defendant lives or does business.
If you are suing an individual, it is where the defendant lives. If the defendant is a business, you must say the county where the defendant does business.
You will then outline the reasons you are suing the defendant. Each paragraph should be numbered and should contain one action.
Paragraphs can expound on the action but should not be more than four to five sentences in length. In this section of the complaint, you are "telling the story" of what happened.
Make sure it is accurate. If you are also requesting punitive damages, you must allege that the defendant was committing a heinous act when he injured you.
In other words, it wasn't a normal, everyday accident. It has to be a heinous act like the doctor cut the wrong foot off, even after reading the chart; or a criminal was running from the police and T-boned your car.
You also need to notarize the pleading. Create the other forms needed to file in the court.
You will need a civil cover sheet, which tells the clerk what type of lawsuit you are filing. You will also need a summons; your complaint cannot be served on the defendant without a summons.
Make two copies of all of the documents except the cover sheet, and paper clip the cover sheet to the original complaint for the clerk of court. Clip the original summons to a copy of the petition.
Clip the second copy of the summons to the top of the first summons. The last copy of the complaint is your copy.
After giving all of the appropriate from to the clerk, start gathering all of the documents relating to the accident. You will need to provide the accident report (if it was an auto accident) and any medical bills.
Even if the medical bills are unpaid at the time of production, you will need to provide them. Contact the local sheriff or marshal's office regarding service of your lawsuit on the defendant.
Bring to the sheriff or marshal the required number of copies of the lawsuit, fee for service and information on where the defendant resides. Then you wait for the defendant to answer the complaint.
The court will notify you of the next step in the lawsuit. The court will want you to provide the above-mentioned documentation and attend arbitration or mediation.
Author Resource:-
Terry Daniels has been working with personal injury law in Arizona for the past 10 years. He has written hundreds of articles dealing with the subject. He recommends this Personal Injury Attorney Phoenix.
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