Will County Litigation Attorneys | Civil Litigation Lawyers, Will County IL

In this article, our Will County litigation lawyers explain motions to dismiss in civil litigation. A civil law suit is initiated by the plaintiff filing a document called a "complaint" in the appropriate circuit court.  The complaint lays out factual allegations about the Defendant's actions that, if true, would entitle the plaintiff to some sort of remedy from the court. If the complaint fails to lay out these allegations with the required specificity, or if the allegations do not amount to a valid cause of action against the defendant, the defendant may file a motion to dismiss, which requests that the court dismiss the case.

Click here to read an article by our Will County litigation lawyers about Motions to Dismiss in Civil Litigation. 

In this article, our Will County litigation attorneys discuss what happens in a civil lawsuit once the defendant has filed an answer to the complaint. At this point the pleading phase of litigation is complete and the written discovery phase begins.  

During written discovery, each side will typicallyissue three types of written discovery requests to the other:  Interrogatories, Requests for Production of Documents, and Requests for Admissions of Fact.

• Interrogatories:  These are written questions to the other parties that must be answered fully in writing.  Each side is allowed to issue 30 questions to the other party without leave from court to issue additional interrogatories.  The purpose of the questions is to reveal the other side's theory of the case, the witnesses they intend to put on at trial, and the facts that they intend to use to support their case.  It allows the attorneys to learn who they need to depose and gives them a foundation for their deposition questions. 
• Requests for Production of Documents: Requests to produce require the other side to produce any documents specifically listed that are relevant to the claim or defense of any party in the case.  Typically the attorney issuing the request to produce will include a catch all request, asking for anything relevant.  However, it is also important to narrowly tailor the requests to the type of document you are looking for so that if those particular documents are not provided, the party that failed to provide them can be sanctioned by the court. 
• Requests for Admission of Facts: Each side can request the other side to admit or deny up to 30 facts.  The purpose of this is to narrow the issues that have to be decided at trial.  Once a fact is admitted, it cannot later be denied.  If a fact is denied but it turns out later  that the party denying it knew it to be true, the party that wrongfully denied the fact will be sanctioned by the court.  If the Requests for Admission of Facts are not returned by the statutory deadline they are all deemed admitted, which has cost some negligent attorneys to lose cases. 

Read the entire article by our Will County civil litigation lawyers explaining written discovery in civil litigation.

In this article, our Will County civil litigation attorneys explain how attorney fees work in civil litigation cases.  Generally, each party bears his or her own attorney fees in civil litigation.  However, an exception to this rule exist where state or federal statute provides that for a particular cause of action the plaintiff can seek attorney fees as damages if successful in his or her case. Parties to a contract can also provide that if a dispute arises as a result of the contract, the prevailing party will have his or her attorney fees and court costs paid by the losing party.

Read the full article by our Will County litigation lawyers explaining attorney fees in civil litigation.