When you choose to pursue a lawsuit, it can be hard. This is because not many people are familiar with lawsuits in general, especially not the process of suing a nursing home. An experienced nursing home abuse lawyer such as the ones available at Davis & Brusca, LLC can help you navigate the rocky waters of suing the nursing home that your family member is in.
Did you know that nursing home cases can take 18 months to 2 years to find resolve? It’s lengthy, and you’ll want a lawyer to walk with you through the steps for however long it goes on for.
The Process
The process of suing the nursing home has seven steps. Understanding these steps will help you as you and your lawyer work to sue the nursing home that wronged your family.
- Initial Case Evaluation: This is the first step to suing the nursing home. This evaluation has two parts, an initial consultation and an investigation of the claim. This is the step that allows you to prepare for the actual lawsuit, which will take a while. A lawyer will offer you an evaluation of your case, typically this is free, and collect information about it. From there, they’ll accept or deny the case.
- Client Engagement: Once your lawyer has accepted your case, they’ll contact to discuss representation. Should the client agree to hire the lawyer that’s reached out, or the law firm, they will hold a meeting with you. From there, they discuss attorney representation agreements, the litigation process and more.
- Claim Investigation: After the client engagement process, start a more in-depth investigation on the law firm’s part. They’re going to determine whether the case is a medical negligence or medical malpractice case. To do that, they’re going to be gathering records that can make the case—medical records, facility records, billing records, records from the clients, etc. This process can take a long time, because you need to be sure the records are correct and relevant. The attorney will also start looking for experts for their case, such as physicians or other medical field workers. The expert has to help go through the records to determine whether there’s negligence and where. If they are unsuccessful in finding negligence, the case will close.
- Notice of Claim: This is a claim that’s sent out sixty days prior to a trial, after the expert has found liability. This means the firm is moving the case forward.
- Lawsuit: This is filed after the notice of claim is sent out. The case may be filed differently depending on what the attorney has found in their research regarding the case, but it will be filed. After being served, the defendant must respond with a Chapter 74 Expert Report. This is a technical report that meets the requirements of the state you’re in.
- Settlement Negotiations: This is when the case settles. Most cases settle in settlement negotiations rather than court.
- rial: Trial only happens if the settlement negotiations are a no go.
Now that you better understand the lawsuit process for suing a nursing home, we hope that you find this less daunting of a task.