Your Attorney has sent a Demand Letter to the responsible party, his attorney, or his insurance adjuster with no response or acceptable settlement proposal before the time limit to respond ended. Your attorney advises you to have him file a Complaint on your behalf. What exactly does this entail?

The Complaint is a formal document that your attorney will file with the Clerk of the Court to claim your legal rights against the other driver. You will be the Plaintiff and the other driver will be the Defendant.

With the Complaint your attorney must file at least one Cause of Action, usually more, depending on your situation. A Cause of Action spells out the reason you are filing the lawsuit. For example, the Motor Vehicle Cause of Action states, "Plaintiff alleges the acts of defendants were negligent; the acts were the legal (proximate) cause of injuries and damages to plaintiff; the act occurred..." and then the attorney will give the specific facts of the accident. (Judical Council of California form PLD-PI-001(1) Rev. January 1, 2007).

Here is a partial list of the damages the attorney may list on the Complaint:

• Loss of Wages
• Loss of use of property
• Hospital and medical expenses
• General damage
• Property damage
• Loss of earning capacity
• Other damages specific to your case

Your attorney will also prepare a Summons which will be filed with the Complaint. The Clerk of the Court will stamp the documents in, assign a case number, and return the originals to your attorney along with however many copies your attorney needs. A file for your case will be set up at the Courthouse and will contain a copy of every document pertaining to your case.

After your attorney receives the Summons and Complaint back from the Court, he will have someone, usually a process server, serve the documents on the other driver. After service, the process server fills out a Proof of Service of Summons and returns it to your attorney, who must file it with the Clerk of the Court. The Summons advises the Defendant that he/she has 30 calendar days to respond, in writing, to the Court and have a copy of the Answer sered on you, via your attorney.

In the Answer, the Defendant can generally deny each allegation of the Complaint, or deny some of the allegations specifically and admit others, or he can use Affirmative Defenses, such as Assumption of Risk or Contributory Negligence.

After the Answer is served on you, via your attorney, the next phase begins - the Discovery phase. Discovery is exactly what it implies - a chance for both parties to "discover" information about each other. Discovery has many facets, some of which are:

• Form Interrogatories
• Inspection of Documents, Things, and Places
• Requests for Admissions
• Special Interrogatories
• Oral and/or Written Depositions
• Physical and/or Mental Medical Examinations
• Simultaneous Exchanges of Expert Trial Witness Information

The Defendant can serve Discovery on you, via your attorney, immediately. You can serve Discovery on the Defendant ten days after the date they are served.