Motions in a Civil Case

When you bring a claim for personal injury, the court will appoint a judge to preside over your case. This judge will be in charge of supervising the entire legal process, beginning with the filing of the claim through when the case goes to trial. 

During this time, both sides may wish to make requests to the judge. For instance, one side may ask that certain evidence be excluded from the case, while the other may request that certain rules be adhered to. The submission of a motion is the appropriate method for making a request of this nature.

A motion is a formal document that asks the court for something. Typically, it’s a request that the judge does one of three things:

• Issues an order about the case
• Gives direction on a specific issue in the case
• Makes a ruling on the case itself

The majority of motions, which are referred to as pretrial motions, are filed well before there is a trial in a courtroom. 

The following are the pretrial motions that are most significant and frequently used:

Motion to Dismiss: At this point, the defendant submits a motion to the judge requesting that the entire case be thrown out. In the motion, it will be argued that the victim does not merit any form of recovery or relief for the injury sustained. Your case will be dismissed if the judge agrees with the motion.

Motion for Summary Judgement: This motion can be submitted by either party. In essence, it is a request to the judge to skip conducting the entire trial and go straight to rendering a verdict as soon as possible. In order to accomplish this, the case evidence must be crystal clear. 

Another option is to ask the court for a summary judgment if the opposing party has not been responding to legal documents or has not been present in court.