Litigation Lawyers in Cottonwood Heights

"Civil procedure" in Cottonwood Heights, Utah is a very broad term, and it refers to the wide variety of rules that govern how civil litigation is done. It is to be distinguished from substantive law, which controls the rights that civil litigation is meant to vindicate.

Cottonwood Heights, Utah's government strives to make the civil justice system fair, efficient, and accessible. The rules of civil procedure are designed to advocate those goals, to the greatest extent possible.

Civil litigation, however, is inherently complicated. So, there is no getting around the fact that the civil procedure rules in Cottonwood Heights, Utah are also going to be somewhat confusing and obtuse (or at least parts of them are). Remember, these rules govern every single thing that happens in a civil lawsuit, from the first complaint, to the last appeal.

Major Cottonwood Heights, Utah Civil Procedure Issues

Complaint: The initial, and perhaps most significant, part of filing a lawsuit in Cottonwood Heights, Utah is the complaint. The complaint is filed with the court in Cottonwood Heights, Utah that's responsible for handling civil trials. It lists everything that the plaintiff (the person who is suing) alleges against the defendant (the person the plaintiff is suing). Typically, but not always, the end of the complaint will contain a "prayer for relief." The prayer for relief is just a statement of what the plaintiff is asking the court to do to remedy the harm that the defendant allegedly caused.

Answer: After the plaintiff files the complaint, the defendant has to act. While they have a few avenues at this stage of the game, most defendants elect to file an answer. The answer is the defendant's first direct response to the plaintiff's allegations. Occasionally, the answer contains a general denial, in which the defendant simply denies everything the plaintiff alleges. It might also contain a point-by-point addressing of every allegation the plaintiff makes, denying some, and admitting some.

Discovery: Once the complaint and answer have been filed in a Cottonwood Heights, Utah court, the next major civil procedure issue comes up. Discovery is the procedure in which both sides of the lawsuit are obligated to disclose obligated evidence to one another. The lawyers for each side can submit written questions, which the other party is required to answer under oath, unless the information is privileged. Each side can also request any relevant documents, physical evidence, and can conduct depositions of witnesses and parties to the lawsuit.

Trial: It's quite rare for lawsuits in Cottonwood Heights, Utah to go to trial. Cottonwood Heights's civil procedure rules truly discourage trials, and alternatively have designed the system so that it's almost always more cost-effective to settle out of court. Nonetheless, if this is not possible, the matter will go to trial, where a judge and/or jury will decide the factual questions, and then award the appropriate relief (if any) to the prevailing party.

How Can a Cottonwood Heights, Utah Lawyer Help?

If you're suing anyone, or are being sued, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, dealing with issues of civil procedure is going to be a fact of life for quite some time.

Because the rules of civil procedure in Cottonwood Heights, Utah are intricate, it's smart to have the counsel of an efficient attorney through every step of the process.