Legal Phase of Personal Injury Action

During the 2 year period as per the Statute of Limitations, the victim of the accident must work closely with a selected lawyer. Together, the two of them must prepare a statement of claim. That same statement needs to contain the following information:
• The date and nature of the accident
• Names of the people involved in the collision
• Description of injuries suffered by the same people
• Limits of claim (in terms of money requested)

What gets done with the Statement of Claim?

That same Statement needs to be filed with the court before the passing of two years, starting with the date of the designated accident. Then, no more than 1 year later, the same Statement of Claim must be served to the lawyer for the defendant. The lawyer for the plaintiff must hire a process server, in order to carry out the required serving of that one particular document (Statement of Claim).
The lawyer for the plaintiff expects an acknowledgment from the person that has been served that specific document. The acknowledgment needs to come in the form of a Statement of Defense. The lawyer for the defendant must arrange for a process server to carry out the serving process, so that the Statement of Defense gets in the hands of the opposing lawyer.

What takes place after the serving of the Statement of Defense?

Upon the completion of that action, the plaintiff must collect the documents that will be included in the Affidavit of Records. It needs to contain all the documents that are relevant to the accident injury claim.
After the plaintiff has handed over the Affidavit of Records, then both the plaintiff and the defendant should expect to be questioned at the office of the plaintiff’s lawyer. That questioning session yields only a limited amount of information, because the clients for both lawyers will be warned not to volunteer any information.
There is a reason for that warning. A court reporter attends the questioning session. The reporter keeps notes on what was said and makes the notes available to both lawyers. Hence anything said during the questioning can become the basis for an inquiry that might be made at any further stage of the settlement process.
Following the questioning, there might be a request for an independent medical exam (IME) or a DME (defense medical exam). Once those exams are completed, the settlement discussions move more rapidly in the direction of a settlement. If there is no settlement, then a trial has to be scheduled.
Ideally, the case ends with the decision that has been reached at the conclusion of the trial. Of course, that is not always the case. Sometimes, the case gets appealed by either of the opposing lawyers. The lawyer that requests the appeal must have a reason for his or her action, and the court must agree that there exists a legal basis for the request by Injury Lawyer in Sault Ste. Marie.