What Is A Civil Lawsuit? When Do You Contact An Attorney?
A civil lawsuit is a way we handle our disputes in modern society when we’re no longer able to handle the disputes on our own. The court system is designed to keep us civil between ourselves and to bring in presumably a neutral third-party who is the judge or jury to decide our dispute according to principles of law. A lawsuit starts when an individual or company has reached an impasse in some form of a negotiation or a communication or demand that they’re having with another individual or company and they decide that they want to exercise their rights the court system. At that point, they become what’s known as the plaintiff. The plaintiff will file a complaint. Once that complaint has been filed, we have a lawsuit.
If you are the plaintiff, of course, you always have the option of going what’s known as pro se, meaning representing yourself. And if your suit is fairly small and simple and straightforward, it’s not a bad option. A lot of people choose to go pro se in what’s known as Small Claims Court, where the claims are generally under $5,000 and they want to settle their dispute as inexpensively as possible and not have to pay legal fees to settle their dispute because the legal fees might outstrip the costs of the amount that they would recover. In that case, it’s not worthwhile to hire an attorney.
But if a person has a substantial claim against another individual or a company; or a company has such a claim, then it’s definitely worthwhile to retain an attorney before filing the lawsuit. If the plaintiff is a company, then they must have an attorney. A company cannot represent itself in court, only an individual can, so they don’t have that option. But if there is any substantiality to the lawsuit, it’s always worthwhile to contact a lawyer to get advice about whether it’s worthwhile proceeding in court. If it is worthwhile to proceed, it is important to have a lawyer involved to help because there are many procedural, technical, and specific requirements within the process of a lawsuit that must be met, otherwise, the lawsuit could be dismissed just based upon not properly following the statutory technical requirements under the law.
On the other side is what’s known as the defendant. The defendant usually first gets notice of a lawsuit when they’ve been served. It’s at that point, the defendant will have to decide whether they need a lawyer. Again, if it’s a small claim and they don’t want to spend a lot of money in that defense and they think that they can defend themselves, they can proceed without a lawyer. But again, if the defendant is the company, it must have an attorney.
Again, if there is anything substantial involved and certainly if they’re a company, then it’s advisable to bring a lawyer because once again, a lawyer can determine if there were any technicalities that were not followed by the other side in which case the attorney may be able to file a motion to have the dispute dismissed on the basis of a failure to follow proper technicalities. On the other hand, an attorney is also going to be best able to determine what are the true merits of the case on the other side and help develop a proper defense strategy. The attorney can also help negotiate a solution, called a settlement, which, in many cases, is one of the most valuable things an attorney can do. It often worthwhile to obtain an attorney just for that purpose.
How Much Does a Lawsuit Generally Cost?
The cost of a lawsuit can vary dramatically. Small lawsuits can cost just a few thousand dollars if they resolve quickly and amicably while more complex cases can cost up to essentially the sky is the limit. If you have a huge claim that’s worth millions of dollars and both sides are not budging at all and each side has a lot to lose, they are going to be willing to spend a significant amount of money on legal fees to avoid a potentially much larger judgment against them or a very expensive settlement. You also have some clients or litigants that are simply adamant. They don’t really care what it’s going to cost, they want to win at all costs. If you are one of those types, it could be expensive and if you are up against one of those types, unfortunately, it can be expensive because they are not willing to listen to reason and come to some form of a settlement.
If there is a lot of merit to the case, oftentimes an attorney might be willing to take the case on contingency. Contingency means that they’re only going to get paid if they win. So, certain types of cases are traditionally done on contingency such as personal injury cases and the attorneys who take those cases are very particular in the types of cases that they take because obviously they’ll have to lay out all of the expenses and put in a lot of time on winning the case, so if there isn’t a big payoff that is fairly certain, they’re probably not going to take the case. It’s going to be hard to find an attorney to take a case on contingency if there isn’t a lot of merit or if there isn’t significant enough merit to the client’s position and there isn’t a decent amount of money involved.
Typical cases that are between non-high profile, high net value litigants run anywhere between a few thousand dollars to $10 to $20 thousand. If there is $50, $60, or a $100 thousand at stake, it may be worthwhile to spend that kind of money to come up with a solution which doesn’t cost as much. But oftentimes, the best lawsuit is the one that’s settled because the litigants have decided that they’d rather give in a little bit than spend a ton of money on attorney’s fees to achieve a possible outcome. One of the more valuable roles that an attorney can play in any type of litigation is to look for ways to show the client how it’s worthwhile to take less because they may end up spending about what they would get anyway even if they won after deducting the amount spent on attorney’s fees. These types of clients walk away very happy that they didn’t have to spend so much on attorney’s fees, a little bit sad that they got less than expected, but content that they got peace of mind. They get to settle and walk away from it quickly or relatively quickly and move on with their lives.
For more information on Civil Lawsuits in New York, Long Island, Nassau or Suffolk County, a free phone consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (516) 806-0762 today.
Related Articles:
- What are the General Steps Someone Should Take in a Lawsuit?
- How Long Does a Civil Lawsuit Typically Take to Get Resolved?
