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If you found yourself involved in an accident in the province of Ontario, you will now need to take certain steps until you can file your personal injury lawsuit. This lawsuit will serve as proof to your insurance company that you are serious about seeking compensation. A personal injury can help you throughout this process and ensure you receive your deserved compensation. To further ease the process, we’ve compiled a guide that’ll help you understand what this path toward your lawsuit will entail:
Step 1: Proving How You Got Your Injuries
For this, you will have to meet with your lawyer and lay out all the documents concerning your case, including the witnesses’ contact information and your medical records. From there, your lawyer will help you prove the circumstances under which you acquired your injuries.
Step 2: The Formal Presentations
Also referred to as the pleading stage, the formal presentations sum up the process of filing a two-tiered series of statements and a reply. First comes the Statement of Claim which is written by your lawyer and explains how much compensation you are seeking while also explaining what you are seeking it for. In response, the other party’s insurance company will file a statement of defense which your lawyer will review before discussing the next step with you. In some cases, your lawyer will then file another, final, pleading if they found controversial statements made by the defendant.
Step 3: Negotiations
Some areas will require you to take part in a 3 hour, if not longer, mediation session. In this case, your lawyer will make sure to choose a mediator best fitted to your case and budget, as well as take care of scheduling the mediation.They will also draw up a brief which will be presented to the other parties and explain your situation through your gathered police reports, witness statements, medical records and any other viable evidence.
Step 4: Discovery
Here, important documents will be exchanged between both parties before both sides get to question each other under oath with a court reporter, but no judge, present.
Step 5: Preparation For the Trial
Throughout this step, your personal injury lawyer in North Bay will take care of interviewing witnesses, calling in potential experts and researching additional facts potentially useful for your case.
Step 6: The Settlement Conference
In presence of a judge, your lawyer will present your case in front of the court, followed by an assessment they will give to you. Only then will your case go to trial. Throughout these steps you should stay in close contact with your lawyer in case of any questions or concerns that may arise.