How long civil lawsuit

At any time during a case, the parties can agree to settle their disputes and reach a compromise to avoid trial and the risk of losing.

Settlement often involves the payment of money and can be structured to result in an enforceable judgment. Civil courts handle a wide variety of cases. Very broadly, civil cases may involve such things as:. In Clark County, a civil case might be filed in small claims court, one of the justice courts, or the district court, depending on how much money is at issue and other factors.

Each court has its own rules that control how a case moves forward. Not every civil case follows these stages. The court or the parties might rearrange the stages. And some cases have unique procedures dictated by the court's rules or a statute. To learn more, research your case at your local law library. Click to visit Law Libraries.

For example, rules in one state might allow a plaintiff with a personal injury claim such as a broken leg one year from the date of injury to file suit, and a plaintiff with a breach of contract claim such as failure to make good on a promissory note four years from the date of breach to sue. In another state, plaintiffs could have two years for personal injury cases, and five years for breach of contract claims. For various statutes of limitations in your state, see Chart: Statutes of Limitations in All 50 States.

Consider consulting a lawyer if you might have a claim or someone might have a claim against you; the rules can be complex. Once you've figured out what statute of limitations applies to your case, your next step is to determine when the clock starts ticking. Usually, the time begins to run on the "date of harm"—that is, on the date when you were injured, your property was harmed, or a contract or agreement was violated. However, another part of this general rule exists.

It protects plaintiffs during the time when their not aware that they've been harmed—which could be for months or even years. In such cases, statutes of limitations will start the clock ticking either on the "date of discovery" of the harm or on the date on which the plaintiff "should have discovered" the harm. In short, for some types of legal actions the statute of limitations clock can start ticking at three different times!

The law is complex. The best way to protect yourself is by consulting with a lawyer about exactly how long you have to pursue a lawsuit—and what kind of lawsuit s you can pursue. Example 1: On January 1, a doctor performs a gallbladder operation on Phoebe but mistakenly removes Phoebe's spleen.

The doctor tells Phoebe of the surgical error as soon as she wakes up. Phoebe's time period for suing the doctor begins to run on January 1, since the harm occurred on that date and Phoebe actually knew about it. If a two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice applies to Phoebe's case, she'd have two years from January 1 to file a lawsuit against the doctor. Example 2: The facts above apply except the doctor doesn't tell Phoebe about the surgical screwup.

Phoebe is in constant pain following the January 1 surgery. A month later, on February 1, Phoebe talks to another doctor who tells her that she should not be in pain and that she should immediately come in to have it checked out. Phoebe delays going to the doctor until July 1 of the same year, at which time she finds out that her spleen had been removed mistakenly on January 1. In this situation, Phoebe's time period for suing the doctor probably begins to run on February 1, because the pain coupled with the second doctor's advice determines when Phoebe reasonably should have discovered the harm.

Example 3: Same case, except that Phoebe suffers no unusual after-effects following the January 1 surgery. Phoebe is unaware that anything went wrong with the surgery until July 1 of the same year, when an X-ray during a routine medical checkup reveals that her spleen was removed. In this situation, since Phoebe did not discover and could not reasonably have discovered the harm until July 1, most states would measure Phoebe's time to sue from July 1.

This can include disputes over injuries, as well as disputes over breach of contract. Employment law cases and defective products claims are also among the many types of cases resolved in civil court. Because lawsuits are filed for so many different reasons, many businesses can expect to become involved in at least some civil litigation, either as the plaintiff or the defendant.

While it is best to try to reduce your liability and limit your interaction with the court system, there are times when you need to file a suit to exercise your rights or when you need to defend yourself against litigation filed against you. When you are involved in litigation as either a plaintiff or a defendant, you likely have many questions.

If you are the plaintiff in a wrongful termination or constructive discharge case, the primary measure of damages will be your lost wages. The judge or jury will look at your back wages from the time of termination until the time of judgment. It will then subtract from this amount any replacement income you have earned and unemployment benefits you have collected.

This is called "mitigation of damages. Depending on the nature of your claim, this amount is usually multiplied by two or three. If you are a plaintiff in a sexual harassment case, your damages will likely include an amount for emotional distress. This is not as easy to quantify as lost or unpaid wages. In most employment law cases, if you are successful you will also recover your costs and attorneys fees.

What is discovery? People are often surprised by how broad the scope of discovery is. You should remember that while you are answering questions you don't necessarily want to answer, the other side has to do the same.

Here are the kinds of discovery that usually happen: Requests for documents. The documents from both sides are key to resolving the claims. You should expect to provide any letters, emails, notes or reports relevant to your claims. You also may be asked for other things, like documents relevant to your employment history or search for a new job. Your lawyer will be asking the other side for similar things.

Your lawyer can object to certain requests if they are overbroad, irrelevant, or ask for privileged information. It is important, however, to share all relevant documents with your attorney even if they will not all be produced to the other side. These are written questions that you must answer under oath.