Take ‘em to Court:
How to Sue Someone Without Hiring a Lawyer
Step 1: State your claim
The first step is to state your claim. A claim is an assertion of a legal right. You do this by completing a “Statement of Claim” form at your local courthouse. If you are filing a lawsuit against someone, you believe someone has infringed on your legal rights. And the solution is to get money from them.
Step 2: Go to the Clerk of Courts’ website
Every county in Florida has an elected Clerk of Courts. While chances are you won’t actually need to ever talk to anyone from this office, the Clerk’s website is a wealth of information. Most of these websites will have all the forms and documents you’ll need.
Step 3: Improve your vocabulary
There are some basic words you will need to know to get by. Know them. The paper you state your claim on is called the complaint. As the person filing the complaint, you are the plaintiff. The person you are suing is the defendant. Since you don’t have a lawyer, you will be known as a pro se plaintiff. The American legal system is loaded with terminology, but you don’t need to know all of it. There are many online legal dictionaries available if you want to learn more.
Step 4: Figure out how much your claim is worth
If your case is worth up to $5000, you’ll file your suit in the Small Claims Division of the County Court. If it’s worth up to $15,000, you’ll file it in County Court. If it’s worth more than that, file it in Circuit Court. Don’t worry: they are all in the same building. The only thing that changes is the filing fee. The forms are the same. Most pro se claims are filed in small claims court.
Step 5: Do your discovery!
After you file your complaint, the person being sued has 20 days to respond. Once they do, discovery can begin. Discovery is a legal term that is what it is: You discover what the other party knows (they’ll also want to know what you know, too). There are only three basic types of written discovery: requests for admissions (you just ask the other party to admit or deny a particular statement), interrogatories (a bunch of questions) and requests for production (in which you ask the other party for all documents pertaining to your case). You can do any or all three. The choice is yours. Whatever helps your case.
Step 6: Now answer their questions
If interrogatories are a bunch of written questions and answers, then depositions are a bunch of questions and answers done orally. No biggie. Spend the $75 and get a court reporter so all of their answers are preserved forever. If you are setting someone’s deposition, they’ll know you mean business.
Step 7: Try your case!
After discovery is done, your case will be at issue and noticed for trial. You won’t have a jury, just a judge, and the judge will decide your cases merits based on a “preponderance of the evidence.” THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS “BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.” That’s for killers and other criminals. In all civil cases, the standard is a “preponderance of the evidence.” That just means you can be a little more right than your opponent. But as long as you are, you win!
Still not sure?
If you still aren’t sure you’ve got enough information, here are links to some sites you might find helpful:
Palm Beach County Courts:
Broward County Courts:
Black’s Law Dictionary Online:
USIBILITY TEST:
1. Were the steps concise and easy to follow?
2. Were the links helpful?
3. Were the steps presented in a logical order?
4. Will the steps produce the desired outcome?
You can't watch daytime television without getting pummelled with cheesy personal injury lawyer commercials. These bottomfeeder lawyers also bombard you via billboard, bus benches, buses themselves and telephone books. They want you to think you can't do anything without them. But you can, and it's not as complex as you might think. The inspiration for this assignment was to show people that you don't need a lawyer to sue someone. You can do it yourself (and save the 33%-40% of the settlement they will take!)
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