Everyday people get hurt in BC due to the negligence of someone else. The recourse for the hurt people is to sue.

Starting a lawsuit is simply a matter of filing paperwork in a BC court.

Before filing your injury case, take advantage of a lawyer’s free consultation offer to get some legal advice.

If you get a free consultation with a lawyer so you can get some legal advice, you should be under no obligation to hire the lawyer. There’s no guarantee the lawyer will take on your case either.

How do you get your injury lawsuit going in a BC court?

If you’re claiming more than 25 grand, file in the Supreme Court of British Columbia; less, go to Small Claims Court.

Filing is getting your claim stamped at the court registry. The stamp is pretty simple – it shows the court and the date. You’ll also get a number assigned to you case.

You can retain people called process servers who make a living personally serving people with court-filed pleadings.

For corporations and partnerships, you can serve your filed pleadings by registered mail, or of course, deliver the filed pleadings in person.

Whenever you personally serve pleadings (in BC anyway), you must swear an Affidavit stating when and to whom you served the pleadings. An Affidavit is a document that is a statement or a group of statements sworn. A sworn Affidavit can be court evidence.

What is the technical term for the people you sue? They are called defendants in Supreme Court and Respondents in Small Claims.

Just so you know, in Small Claims court, the people you sue are called Respondents. It means the same as defendants – a more common term, which is still used in BC Supreme Court.

If the defendants don’t bother to file a defence, you can pursue default judgment. If you succeed getting default judgment, then you simply need to have your claim assessed and then you lodge your judgment in court and pursue collecting on your judgment.

Usually you won’t get a default judgment. Once you receive a statement of defence, your lawsuit is off to the races. The exact steps from this point forward depends on which court you filed your claim.

Although starting a lawsuit isn’t difficult, it’s important you claim your harms and losses properly. Therefore, if you can get legal advice and representation. At the very least take the free consultation offers and learn as much as you can.

Some lawyers won’t take a Small Claims case on; others will. Either way the personal injury standard these days is that the lawyer’s legal fees are a portion of the amount of compensation the lawyer obtains.

Want to find out more about hiring Surrey Injury Lawyers, then visit our website and personal injury blog that explains how you can meet with us for legal advice.