"So, You're in a Lawsuit", this video series
is about some of the most frequently askedquestions about the lawsuit and litigation
process in the United StatesIn this first video, we are going to talk
about the basic steps to initiate a lawsuitIf you need to sue someone, how do you do
it?I'm Mark Lyda, from the Lyda Law FirmLet's get started
One-take Mark, you know, classic, classic[laughs] All right[Music Plays]So, I have to say that the first step to initiatinga lawsuit is to try to resolve your dispute
without having a lawsuitAnd the reason for this is that lawsuits are
pretty much, almost always, terrible experiencesfor everyone involved – even if you win
So, I really encourage people, if you can
resolve your differences outside of court;try, try, try to do that without suing someoneThen, again, there are just times in life
when you have to sueSometimes, the only way to deal with a bully
is to stand up to themAnd, in those instances, when you have to
sue, here are the basic steps for doing it
Once you have exhausted efforts to try to
resolve a dispute outside of court you can,next, escalate that by going to a lawyer and
discussing your optionsSometimes, it helps to write what's called
a demand letter or a cease and desist letterWhich is basically just like a nastygram written
by a lawyer on their letterheadAnd maybe you send it certified mail, just
to show the other side that you have talkedto a lawyer, and the lawyer thinks you have
a case
The lawyer has a way of saying it that it
will cite to certain laws and show the legalbasis for your side of the storyAnd it's all just a way of showing the other
side that you're taking this seriously andyou mean businessI recommend that, in those demand letters,
that you have a deadline for the other sideto respondSo, you are not just waiting, and waiting,
and waiting before filing your lawsuit
Also, if you take steps to try to resolve
your dispute outside of court, or you do thingsthat would delay suing, like writing a demand
letter instead of actually suing somebody;make sure you're keeping in mind your statute
of limitationsA statute of limitations is the time limit
that you have to sue somebodySo, depending on where you are and what type
of claim you have, it might be for example,"I can only sue this person three years after
I find out what they did to me"And so, you need to figure out the statute
of limitations first because that tells youthe timeframe that you're working with here
So, after you try to resolve it out of court,
after you have your lawyer write a demandletter, neither of which are usually legally
requiredThe next thing you need to do before suing
is to make sure that any contract you havewith the other party allows you to sueSometimes, contracts say, "All right, if we
have a dispute, we agree to do mediation,"which is like a settlement conference where
we just have somebody help us try to resolveour dispute voluntarilySo, maybe the contract says we'll agree to
have a mediation 30 days before anybody sues
Sometimes, the contract might say we agree
to go to arbitration, which is like a privatecourt in a conference room, outside of the
courthouse, instead of suingSo, whatever you do, make sure that you read
any contract you have with the other sidebefore you actually file suit because the
contract might also say, where you have tosue"Any dispute under this contract will be resolved
under the laws of the State of Colorado andthe Denver County District Court," or something
like thatSo, read that contract before you sue
The next step to initiating a lawsuit is to
write your complaintSo, the complaint is the document that opens
the lawsuitIt says your side of the storyIt says the facts of why you are suing
It says the legal basis for suing and it says
exactly what claims you are bringing againstthe other side; breach of contract, negligence,
infliction of emotional distress, whateverthe claims areSo, you write that complaint or I recommend
you have your lawyer write that complaintOnce you have the complaint written, you will
file that complaint with the court and youwill serve it upon the other partySo, this is done using a process server
Sometimes, the sheriff in your hometown can
do it for youOr there are private companies that will charge
maybe 50 or $100 to go personally hand thecomplaint and the summons to the other person
in the lawsuitThe summons is the document that says, "Here
is your complaintYou have to respond to it by X-date in this
particular court
"And it is served in a packet with the complaint
on the other person in the lawsuitYour process server will send you back an
affidavit, which is a sworn statement saying,"I served this person at their house at X-time
on X-date"Or it will say, "I wasn't able to find this
person because they were dodging me"If that's the case, there is a workaround,
which is too detailed to go into for thisvideo
But, anywaySo, after that process server sends you back
the affidavit, you are off to the racesThe ball is now in the court of the other
party of the lawsuit and you have initiatedyour lawsuitSo, that's the first step in our "So, You're
in a Lawsuit" video series which is how toinitiate a lawsuit
In other words, how to sue someoneIn other videos in this series, we'll talk
about what if you get sued, and we'll talkabout all of those steps that follow after
you actually begin the lawsuitThanks for watching and please remember to
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