Civil Litigation
Edwards Law can represent you if you find yourself in a non-criminal legal dispute. Civil litigation is the process of resolving a legal dispute between two or more parties before a court of law. Typically, one or more of these parties are seeking compensation or a specific service or action and need to reach an agreement. Edwards Law can help resolve disputes, keeping your best interests in mind. If you choose to raise a dispute or bring a complaint against another party, we offer pre-litigation and litigation services and will advise you on the best legal strategy to suit your claim.
Pre-Litigation
Edwards Law aims to prevent litigation before it happens and to solve issues before they go to trial. If you are thinking of suing but are not sure what your rights are and how much it will cost, or if you’ve been served with a complaint, Edwards Law offers a free one-hour consultation to address your options.
Should you choose to ultimately file a complaint or counterclaim against the other party, Edwards Law will work to aggressively settle the dispute before it goes to trial. Edwards Law can communicate with the other parties and their attorneys to try and reach an agreement in order to avoid protracted litigation and a costly trial.
Litigation
If Edwards Law cannot help you settle your dispute in the pre-litigation process, Edwards Law will fight for you in court and come up with the best legal strategy to help you win. The litigation process for a civil dispute is very similar to the corporate litigation process. The following are the stages to a typical civil litigation:
Pleadings: This is the part of litigation where you file what is called pleadings or responsive pleadings, explaining your side of the dispute. Pleadings consist of (1) the complaint, (2) answer, (3) counterclaims (if any), (4) responses to counterclaims (if any), and (5) motions to dismiss. The pleadings stage is concluded when someone either wins on a motion to dismiss (which serves to dismiss the case or a part of it) or when all answers/responses to claims/counterclaims are filed.
Discovery: During the discovery phase, Edwards Law will work diligently to gather all the relevant information pertaining to your case. This includes depositions, interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, subpoenas, and any other steps needed to obtain key documents and paperwork for your case.
During this phase, Edwards Law also makes court appearances on your behalf for case management hearings, discovery disputes, motion practice, pretrial hearings and more. As always, Edwards Law aims to reach an agreement with the other party to avoid going to trial, which can be a costly and timely affair.
Trial: If for some reason, an agreement cannot be reached and trial is inevitable, Edwards Law will handle trial preparation, management, and everything else regarding your trial until a ruling is announced.
Areas of Expertise
Examples of civil litigation cases Edwards Law handles include:
- Homeowner Association Disputes
- Latent Defect
- Libel and Slander
- Defamation /Libel/Slander Lawsuit
- Breach of Warranty
- Construction Defect
- Breach of Contract
- Property Disputes
- Partnership or Owner Disputes
- Business Torts