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Filing a Negligence Claim & Prosecuting an Elder Neglect Case – the Process
Litigation, Discovery and Trial
If early attempts to resolve the case fail, the next step is filing a lawsuit in Court and seeking a jury trial. Before the trial, the parties will engage in discovery where they will first exchange documents and then undertake depositions or questioning of witnesses under oath.
Experienced attorneys will often file Motions to Compel the defense to produce important documents, like prior complaints, staffing records, personnel and training protocols. A sample Motion can be found here.
Very few nursing home cases that are filed in Court ever wind up in a jury trial. This is often a function of good case selection and aggressive litigation. Cases that wind up in Court can take 1 to 2 years to resolve. The costs of such a trial can be significant for both sides and must be factored into any settlement evaluation. When evaluating who to hire it is important that you select an attorney that has extensive experience actually trying malpractice cases, as his lack of experience could be a factor in the case not settling.