Hopefully, the great majority of you have never had to file a civil complaint against anyone (you as the 'plaintiff'). Even more pertinent, hopefully, you've never been on the receiving end of a lawsuit (you as the 'defendant'). However, at some point, you may believe that litigation is the only recourse remaining. In that case, you will need to file what is known in California as a "complaint" - I'll write more about the specifics of filing the complaint down the road (which form(s) to use, how to allege facts, what to ask for, etc.).
For now, let's assume you've filed (or your attorney has), ... now what? Now, you must serve the defendant(s) with what is known as a "summons" and your complaint. The summons is a form that provides notice to the defendant of its immediate rights and obligations. The summons in California indicates that the defendant "has been sued by" you, and that defendant has 30 days from the date of personal service to file a formal response with the court and serve it on you/plaintiff or your counsel. Service of the response may be (and usually is) by mail, even if the defendant counter-sues you (known in California as a Cross-complaint). Service of the summons/complaint usually takes anywhere between 1-15 days from the date of the filing of the lawsuit, but it can take much longer, depending on the access to defendant, its whereabouts, and various other factors. (I'll have more on this in upcoming entries as well).
However, the defendant need not file an answer. Defendant has the right to object for numerous statutory reasons - such as, wrong person, improper jurisdiction, or your complaint fails to allege sufficient facts to state a cause of action (claim) against this particular defendant. Such attacks are filed with the court and served personally or by mail to you or your counsel. If such attack is filed (usually called either a "demurrer" or a "motion to strike", and these two types of attacks are often filed concurrently), the court schedules a hearing date to occur some time within the next 25-60 days. You then have a certain number of business days to file/serve an opposition. The defendant then gets the opportunity to file a reply brief, and eventually, the hearing occurs to determine the merits of defendant's argument.
If defendant succeeds, the court almost always gives plaintiff/you another crack at the apple. This is known as "leave to amend" the complaint to allege sufficient facts or otherwise correct whatever is deemed wrong. Usually, you get 10-15 days to do so. If you do, in fact, file an "amended" complaint, defendant gets another 30+ days to respond (you may serve the amended complaint by mail in California).
If the defendant is not successful, the court usually requires that defendant file/serve an "Answer" to the complaint within 5-10 days of the hearing.
As you have likely surmised, the date between when you initially file your lawsuit/complaint and the date the defendant actually appears and answers your complaint can often be long and arduous. Indeed, the reason that cases often take 1 year or more to go through the litigation process is due to the procedural rights and obligations of the parties.
Clients often believe that the litigation process has specific time tables which must be adhered to. Thus, clients assume that once served, their opponents have an obligation to answer and then the court will set a trial date some time in the near future. As briefly noted above, however, this rationale is simply inaccurate. From initial filing date to the initial trial setting conference, expect to wait at least 75-90 days, and often, longer. And, from filing to trial often does, indeed, take 1 year, though 3-5 years is not unheard of, especially in complex cases with multiple parties (each defendant has the opportunity to attack the plaintiff's pleadings).
More to come!
Hope you find this useful!
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