The primary way in
Where is the case right now
Nobody arrives here from a code number. They arrive from a moment: a demand just landed, a hearing is set, the five years are nearly up. Pick the moment.
Stage 01
Before the complaint
The claim you have to present first, and the clocks that run before there is a case.
2 guides · 2 fatal
Stage 02
Pleadings and parties
Getting the complaint filed, served and amended, and getting yourself into or out of the case.
4 guides · 3 fatal
Stage 03
Discovery
Demands, responses, verifications, depositions, and the motions each of them produces.
5 guides · 4 fatal
Stage 04
Law and motion
The filing clocks counted backward from the hearing, and what gets an application rejected at the window.
2 guides · 2 fatal
Stage 05
Trial setting
The statutory clocks that decide whether you reach trial at all, and the jury you can lose without noticing.
2 guides · 2 fatal
Stage 06
Settlement and costs
The cost-shifting machinery, the demands that move risk onto someone else, and what happens after judgment.
4 guides · 4 fatal
Stage 07
Sanctions and conduct
What the court can do to you personally, what you have to report, and what you can do about the other side.
2 guides · 2 fatal