Looking to File a lawsuit, here is some helpful info!

To all of you whom are thinking of suing, or are being sued, I have some personal information for you. I have been sued, and I have sued, and what I have found is, just because you initiate a case against someone, this doesn't mean you're in the right or you will win! Regarding Civil matters: Attorneys seem to try to take advantage of people, that are, " desperate" in trying to find a way to get money, property, or some kind of liquid reward, these people usually want it all. Attorneys usually require, for litigation, a hefty fee, retainer, to start the case and forget to tell you that the fees will keep adding up on top of the initial fees as the case goes on. Most, civil cases take a year or many years or until one, or both of the parties give in, because of time and money. Some attorneys will try to sue for any and every idea possible. I, " have witnessed first hand", an attorney filing a contradictory summons or complaint, in order to as I call it, "Grasping at straws" so that the Plaintiff, thinks he has a chance at getting what," he wants",( otherwise there would be no case) but also throws in the complaint the actual reality of what will most likely happen or , "worse case scenario" as considered by the plaintiff. I find this very interesting that attorneys can contradict a complaint, like for example: say where the case is over dispute of property, first complain in the Summons, that the defendant, " is not an owner" then, in another part of the Summons or Complaint, complain the defendant , "is an owner". The purpose of this , "contradictory complaint" was to trick the Plaintiff into thinking he has has a case or chance at what he wants, which was in this case, "The house solely". The attorney takes advantage of the Plaintiff because he knows the Plaintiff is desperate and has money. In the mean time the attorney piles on the fees to the Plaintiff because the case just drags on for many months, even many years. The Plaintiff and the defendant, can both suffer from this kind of suit, and whom ever is in the most liable and responsible situation will suffer the most loss. If, you don't have a lot of money or make very little money, and you need to sue a person over $5,000, you will have to file with Civil Court. In Civil Court you will have to jump through a whole bunch of hurdles and laws that govern this part of the judicial system and it is recommended that you retain an attorney. Most importantly talk to as many, not just some, attorneys before you, "initiate or defend yourself, against a complaint. Make sure you have a case! If you already have been served and your time to respond is almost up, and you need more time file a, "Motion for Extension of Time", this is just a written request for more time, and to do this you just go to the court house, to the law library they will help you get the document you need to file. Then you need to set a date for a hearing for your motion to be heard by the judge. You just call the Judges secretary assigned to your case and they will advise you on what you need to do. If you need to sue for under $5,000 and don't think you can afford to start the suit, check with the courthouse there is usually some kind of payment plan available and your approved in 5 min after submitting the paperwork, which takes 5 minutes to fill out. You usually can choose your monthly payment amount with the payment plan. This is a smart and conventional way to sue to get the monies owed to you in a small claims case. You can also do the payment plan when you are suing for more than $5000 but this part of of the court system is usually a lengthy process and a lot of legalities are involved which become very costly. Set your own pretrial conference in a small claims suit, you don't have to leave it up to the judge; attorneys do this all the time. If you are suing make sure that you have a legal basis, talk to an attorney I recommend Pre paid Legal because you can call them as much as you want for $26 a month and ask as many questions as you want and you can request to speak with another attorney on the same subject in the firm. The first month there is a set up fee of $10 on top of the $26 but you can't beat the access to unlimited attorney advice for the price and the most important thing, " you can cancel at any time". If you call a random attorney for a consultation they want around $75 or more for a consultation fee in most cases and believe me I know first hand how expensive just the consultation can be. Just because you sign a contract with an attorney doesn't mean that they can take advantage of you. If an attorney has done you wrong please report that person, each state should have a service that will try to mediate the problem for you. Contact the state bar association!