| How
Long Will It Take For My Case To Get To Trial?
Each
jurisidiction has different rules regarding the allotment of
cases to the court's trial docket. However, it is the judge
of the particular court in which the action is pending who has
the final say as to when a case will be tried in his courtroom.
When a case must be litigated there is littlechance for a
speedy or quick recovery. The wheels of justice often turn
at a snail's pace. There are many reasons for this slow outcome.
Too many clients are quick to blame their lawyer for a system
that sets the rules.
Most courts recognize that the majority of cases are settled
before they are tried. Given this fact, courts must set many
cases for trial on the same date. When one or more of those
cases settle, the court can still try the remaining case and
avoid losing a week of scheduled trials. Unfortunately, this
means that some litigants must be turned away on their appointed
day of trial because one of the older cases ahead of them
did not settle.
Given the tremendous amount of cases which are being set
for trial, as well as the court's own schedule, a new trial
date may be many months away. Some courts try both criminal
and civil cases and therefore have two dockets from which
trials must be set. In those instances, the constitution requires
the "speedy trial" of criminal cases. Thus, the
civil cases get a lower priority.
Another factor influencing the length of the litigation process
is that the defense gets paid by the hour. Obviously, the
longer the case drags out, the more money they make. This
is not to say that all defense lawyers intentionally "churn"
the files for more hours, but the reality is that most do
not focus on the case to the extent they should until a trial
date is staring them in the face.
It would seem that the simple answer is to set a quick trial
date at the outset of the litigation and the case would proceed
very fast. This is true in federal court where a trial date
is set at the beginning and the case proceeds within 15 months.
In state courts however, many local rules prohibit attorneys
from setting cases for trial until they certify that all the
work on the case is completed.
They do this to avoid continuing the case because one side
is not prepared to proceed to trial. Since the discovery process
takes time, most cases in state court drag out far longer
than cases in federal court.
Although most routine automobile cases can be resolved within
2-2 1/2 years from the date of filing, many which involve
complex issues of liability, insurance coverage disputes or
high dollar damages can last much longer.
Most jurisdictions allow the plaintiff who prevails to recover
interest on the judgment from the time of the filing of the
case. This is the supposed incentive to make the case settle
earlier. In reality it is really not a factor or motivator
for the defense to move faster.
When the testimony of expert witnesses like physicians, engineers,
or safety experts is needed, the case will also proceed more
slowly. Physicians are busy and will generally schedule depositions
only on certain days of the month. Thus, the parties must
wait to secure their testimony.
In sum, there are many factors which cause auto cases to
be delayed in getting to trial. Although the lawyers can play
a part in this delay, most of it is caused by the system.
Keep in mind that most plaintiff's attorneys do not get their
fee until the case concludes. Thus, they do not want the case
to be delayed and have a strong incentive to move the case
quickly.
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