Make Notes On Legal California Civil Procedure Forms For Free

Timeline of How to File a Lawsuit Step 1: File a Complaint. Plaintiff files a complaint and summons with the local county court. ... Step 2: Answer Complaint. ... Step 3: Discovery. ... Step 4: Failing to Respond to Discovery. ... Step 5: Conclusion of Lawsuit.

The California Code of Civil Procedure affords courts broad discretion in granting this pre-litigation discovery: ?If the court determines that all or part of the discovery requested under this chapter may prevent a failure or delay of justice, it shall make an order authorizing that discovery.? Code Civ.

(a) Pretrial procedures The statutory procedures include limited discovery, optional case questionnaires, optional requests for pretrial statements identifying trial witnesses and exhibits, and the possibility of presenting testimony in the form of affidavits or declarations.

You must fill out an Answer, serve the plaintiff, and file your Answer form with the court. Generally, this is due within 30 days after you were served. If you don't, the plaintiff can ask for a default. If there's a default, the court won't let you file an Answer and can decide the case without you.

If the party being served is a person, the papers can be mailed to his or her home or mailing address. If it is a business, the papers must be mailed to the owner(s) at the business's main office. If the business has an agent for service, the papers should be mailed to the agent for service.

Pre-trial conferences include full ?discovery? of evidence (bills, receipts, agreements, contracts, photos, etc.). At the pre-trial, you must be prepared to bring all documents that you anticipate will be introduced as evidence at the trial and you must provide a copy of each potential exhibit to the opposing party.