Litigation is a process where individuals, businesses, or organizations settle disputes by filing or answering a complaint in a court of law. It typically arises due to a disagreement about the outcome of a dispute, after which the parties involved go to court to present their respective cases. Individuals and businesses can resolve a wide range of disputes through litigation.
Some of the most common cases include business disputes like claims of breach of contract, workplace disputes such as employees filing a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal, or customers suing a business because of dissatisfaction with its products or services. Other cases include personal injury claims, landlord/tenant cases, and divorce and family law disputes.
Typically, parties that end up in litigation negotiate to some extent beforehand and only involve their lawyers when the negotiations end in a deadlock. Some states, however, require that some contracts include a clause requiring the contracting parties to formally negotiate in case of a disagreement before filing a lawsuit. This is the case in Oklahoma for residential real estate sales contracts.
If the parties cannot come to an agreement, the plaintiff will direct their lawyers to initiate the lawsuit by filing the documents in court. The lawsuit, legally called a petition, states the cause of the legal action and what the plaintiff requests from the court.
The plaintiff’s lawyers also ensure that the opposing lawyers get a copy of the petition. The defendant can either decide to answer the petition or file a motion to dismiss the case on various grounds. The case proceeds to formal discovery if the defendant opts for the former.
The formal discovery phase includes requesting and turning over pertinent documents and question and answer sessions under oath (depositions), among other attempts to gather all the facts surrounding the case. Court reporters are usually involved in these sessions to record the proceedings, which the court uses later at trial. A videographer may also be present, depending on the nature and significance of the lawsuit.
Discovery may also include subpoenaing third parties with potentially relevant information or documents to the lawsuit. In situations where the lawyers cannot agree on the limit of information and documents to which the other parties are entitled, the court steps in and sets the limit. Discovery is also the phase where either party files a summary judgment motion, which is a motion asking the court to pronounce a judgment before the case goes to trial. If a court grants a motion for summary judgment it effectively concludes the case, although this rarely occurs.
After discovery (assuming the court doesn’t grant a summary judgment motion), the conflicting parties are usually asked by the court to meet and formally attempt settlement through meditation. An experienced and unbiased legal professional typically oversees the mediation process, working with both parties to seek a last-ditch solution to the dispute before it goes to trial.
In mediation, the parties prepare their statements detailing their version of the case before forwarding it to the mediator. After the mediation, the mediator makes recommendations based on the information obtained from both parties. The parties may agree or disagree with this counsel. If they cannot agree, the case goes to trial.
During trials, lawyers call on witnesses, present evidence, and argue back and forth with their counterparts. Trials may take a long time, ranging from weeks to months, depending on the case's complexity. After the lawyers make their closing arguments, the judge or jury, after deliberation, reaches a verdict.
If one side does not like the verdict, as is often the case, they can appeal. This process involves analyzing the facts, the trial's transcripts, and briefings from the plaintiffs and defendants. The appeals court can either uphold the verdict or rule that the judge or jury’s verdict was unfair, overturning part or all of it.
