Filing a Car Accident Claim in Manassas

The most important thing for someone to do before filing an action is to collect all of the evidence that would be necessary to try and negotiate a fair and favorable settlement. If someone and their Manassas car accident attorney cannot negotiate a fair and favorable settlement then they can go file a lawsuit and then have a judge or a jury decide what the value of the case should be.

In order for someone to prepare themselves for filing a lawsuit, they will want to make sure that they have all of the medical records, all of the photographs, all of the witness information, all of the police reports, if any, as well as any lost wage information. If they have all of this information they should be prepared and ready to start a lawsuit.

Differences Between a Claim and a Lawsuit

A claim, itself, isn’t filed with a court; a claim is just a process against the insurance company, and if someone is unable to negotiate a favorable settlement, then their leverage is to file a lawsuit with the court. The lawsuit will be the same thing as a claim in that both serve as ways to extract money from the insurance company based upon the acts of the person they insure. A claim is an informal thing, but to bring the insurance company into a lawsuit is a formal process with the court. A claim is also known as a “demand.”

The actual action filed with the court is called a “complaint,” “action,” or “suit.”

Settling an Action

Once someone has filed an action or a lawsuit, they can settle it at any time as it is based on whether or not they can come to an agreement with the person that they are suing. If they choose not pursue an action any longer, it is their right, as a client, to not pursue it and to accept whatever offer to settle the claim they feel is appropriate.

It is always up to the client to decide whether or not he or she wants to pursue a lawsuit and if, at any time, the client no longer wants to pursue a lawsuit, then the client  has the right to withdraw that lawsuit. No attorney will take these actions unilaterally.

Negotiating Outside of Court

Filing an actions does not forfeit the right to negotiate outside of court. Negotiation is ongoing and it can start before the lawsuit is filed and it can continue all the way up until a judge or a jury grants a verdict in the case so this element is ever present and ongoing.

Where to File a Car Accident Claim in Manassas

A person can file a lawsuit in district or circuit court. General district court has a lower limit of $25,000 and circuit court is for anything above $25,000. If someone wants to file in federal court, they will need to make two distinct precursors and that would be mean that the amount they are suing for is over $75,000 and they also have to have a diversity of citizenship amongst the parties meaning that the plaintiff and the defendant must be from different states.