You can file a civil lawsuit without an attorney, but you will take substantial risks with your claim if you do so. Some legal claims are less risky because they involve less money. For example, small claims court is limited to low dollar amounts at stake.
If you have a personal injury claim against someone whose negligence caused you to suffer catastrophic wounds, having an attorney handle your case could be worthwhile. The law does not force you to hire a lawyer. Instead, you must make a judgment call about the level of risk you are willing to take on a legal claim that could impact your future.
Steps You Would Have to Take to File a Civil Lawsuit Without a Lawyer
Let’s use the example of filing a civil lawsuit without a lawyer in California. The Judicial Branch of California, California Courts, says you would have to do all these things if you want to file a civil lawsuit without an attorney:
Determine If You Can File a Lawsuit
You must have standing, which means the legal dispute at the center of the lawsuit either involves or directly affects you. Also, you must be a natural person, corporation, or legal entity.
Finally, you must have legal capacity if you want to file a lawsuit by yourself. People under the age of 18 or judged mentally incompetent because of infirmity, age, or illness have a “legal disability” that prevents them from filing lawsuits for their benefit. A person in this situation must have a legal representative file the lawsuit on their behalf.
Identify the Correct Party to Sue
It can be harder than it sounds to make sure you sue the right party or parties. Here are a few examples that show how this works:
- If you slip and fall in a store, you will need to find out if the store is a standalone legal entity or part of a chain. Also, you need to find out who owns the store. It might be a person with a franchise. There might be several levels of ownership you need to sort out to include everyone who must be part of the lawsuit.
- If someone negligently causes a car crash that injures you, you might need to sue the driver and the owner if the driver does not own the car.
- Sometimes, a person must sue a government aid agency, like the city street department. You will need to have the precise name of the correct government agency for the lawsuit and where it accepts service of process.
Additional Issues You Would Have to Address When Filing a Lawsuit Without a Lawyer
The steps we have covered do not even get the lawsuit started. Here are additional issues you would have to address when filing a lawsuit if you do not work with an attorney:
- When suing an individual, you must use the person’s legal name and any aliases. Also, you must find that person’s current address.
- If you are suing a business, you must find out whether it is a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or limited partnership. The rules for each type of business are different.
You will then need to draft all the documents required under your state’s law for the type of lawsuit you want to file. Your initial pleading, the petition, must satisfy all the legal requirements under your state’s rules of civil procedure. You will have to prepare additional documents to file with the petition, which can vary from one court to another.
You will have to get each defendant served with a full copy of the initial pleadings and other papers you filed with the court. The deadline for the defendants to respond to the allegations of your petition will not start to run until they get served with the papers.
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Pitfalls to Avoid When Filing a Civil Lawsuit Without an Attorney
You might perform each step perfectly, and your case could still get thrown out of court. If the court can get rid of a lawsuit on procedural grounds, it will never listen to the substance of your allegations.
One of the most common procedural rules that kick cases out of court is the statute of limitations. By way of example, the statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit in California is two years, according to CCP § 335.1. If your injury claim does not settle and you do not file your lawsuit on time, state law will bar you from seeking compensation either in court or out of court.
Greenberg Gross Can Help You With a Civil Lawsuit
If you file your case on time, but the other side has a lawyer, they will likely take advantage of the fact that you are not a lawyer. They can file multiple motions, notice up hearings, and make your life miserable. If you would rather not roll the dice on your future, Greenberg Gross would be happy to talk to you about handling your personal injury lawsuit and fighting for all the compensation you deserve from the party that harmed you.
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