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This article was written by Brian Vukadinovich, an experienced pro se litigant and the author of Motion for Justice: I Rest My Case. Brian exemplifies the Personal Practice of Law, a process of interpreting the law governing a legal issue, applying that law to specific facts and circumstances, and forcefully arguing that law in court.
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The purpose of this manual is to give the pro se plaintiff helpful insights into essential areas of the law. This should help prepare you to represent yourself, hopefully to a successful conclusion.
This information will help the pro se plaintiff better understand the obstacles you are likely to encounter and perhaps overcome with a better understanding of the principles that will be necessary to prosecute your case and to avoid dismissal by motions to dismiss or motions for summary judgment that will in all likelihood be employed by defense attorneys.
Under the law you have every right to represent yourself, as the Judiciary Act of 1789 states: “That in all courts of the United States, the parties may plead and manage their own causes personally…”
I. Prerequisites to filing discrimination suits
Depending on the state you live in or the nature of action you are pursuing, you may be required to first submit a notice of tort claim if your claim is a state claim against a state governmental agency. Be sure to research your state’s laws with respect to time periods for required notices so you don’t unintentionally waive any of your legal rights for failure to timely submit a tort claims notice.
If your claim involves discrimination in violation of a federal statute, then you must first file an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charge in the office of the appropriate jurisdiction. Generally discrimination claims for violations of federal statutes require a discrimination charge to be filed with the EEOC within 180 days of the occurrence of the discriminatory act. Failure to timely file the discrimination charge with the EEOC could result in waiver of your right to seek redress for the discrimination claim(s) in a court of law.
Once a discrimination charge is filed with the EEOC, your charge will be investigated. If it finds cause, the EEOC will issue a finding. If it is not able to issue a finding of cause based on the information provided, the EEOC will issue a right to sue letter giving you the right to file a lawsuit in a court of law. You have 90 days to file your lawsuit from the date you receive a right to sue letter from the EEOC.
II. Familiarity with the governing rules of court
It is very important to familiarize yourself with the governing rules of the court where you will be filing your cause of action. Many pro se’s make the mistake of proceeding with their litigation without studying the governing rules of procedure, and that can be very costly in terms of the fate of your case. Defense lawyers love to find technical flaws with a pro se’s procedure and they look for any missteps that the pro se may make in not following the governing rules.
Many times the failure to know and follow the rules of procedure result in a dismissal of a case. These dismissals can be avoided to a large degree simply by taking the time to familiarize yourself with the rules. That would include the state or federal rules of procedure, depending on which venue you are in, and also the rules of the specific (local) court you are in.
If the case is in federal court, it would be the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. If the case is in state court, you would need to research the rules of procedure from that particular state. In addition to the federal or state rules of procedure, most courts also have their own “local rules” that you should get familiar with to ensure you are following procedures designated by the local court. You also should familiarize yourself with the Rules of Evidence for the venue, i.e., state or federal court.
III. Familiarity with terms generally used in litigation
You will run into many legal terms that you may have never heard of before, for example such as “in limine,” “void dire,” “Daubert motions,” “estoppel” and many others, and it is very important that you learn what those terms mean if and when they come up in your case.
You can do this by obtaining a dictionary of legal terms or of course with an internet search.
IV. Preparing and filing the complaint
The general rules of pleading are such that you must file a complaint stating a claim for relief. To adequately state a proper claim for relief, the complaint must contain three essential elements:
- a short and plain statement of the grounds for the court’s jurisdiction, unless the court already has jurisdiction and the claim needs no new jurisdiction support;
- a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and
- a demand for the relief sought, which may include relief in the alternative or different types of relief.
It’s important that you as a pro se plaintiff look up the rules of pleading in the venue in which you are filing your case. The laws vary from state to state, and some states, like Indiana, do not permit a dollar amount to be stated. Federal complaints allow plaintiffs to state the dollar amount they are seeking in damages.
If you want a jury trial, you must state your jury demand in your complaint. If you are in a federal court, they are required to liberally construe your pleadings and apply less stringent standards under Haines v. Kerner, et al., 401 U.S. 519 (1972).
It is important to state sufficient facts in your complaint to withstand a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim for relief. This will be one of the first things the defense will look for when your case is filed, as attorneys routinely try this tactic early in the litigation if they see a flaw in your complaint.
V. Discovery
Conducting effective discovery is a crucial aspect of prosecuting your case. Discovery helps you obtain information and evidence to prove your case, and it also helps to defend against any dispositive motions. If your cause of action is in a federal court, you should study the discovery portions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. If your cause of action is in a state court, you should study the discovery-related rules for that state.
Rule 26(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states:
“Unless otherwise limited by court order, the scope of discovery is as follows: Parties may obtain discovery regarding non-privileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Information within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.
There are several avenues of discovery that you should be familiar with and prepared to use.
- Interrogatories are written questions you can submit to any and all of the defendants in your case that are to be answered under oath. Generally, the defendants will have thirty (30) days to respond to your interrogatories from the date they receive them.
- Depositions are oral questions you can ask of any of the defendants in your case. While this is a very effective means of discovery, it can be expensive as you will have to employ a court reporter for this.
- Requests for Production are requests you can make to the defendants to produce documents and other tangible things for your review.
- Requests for Admissions are written requests you can make to any and all of the defendants in your case to admit or deny specific facts and the genuineness of any described documents.
Effective use of discovery can be very helpful in proving your case and also in responding to any motions for summary judgment.
VI. Dispositive motions
In most cases, and especially when you are proceeding pro se, you can expect the defendants to file some type of a dispositive motion in an effort to kill your case before trial. Usually this happens with a motion to dismiss for a technical reason of some kind, or a motion for summary judgment where the defendants will argue there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
You must understand what a “fact” is in the eyes of the law; a fact can be a statement made or an action taken. And that “fact” has to be “material,” i.e. something that matters, something of consequence to the issue. A “genuine dispute” is proven by contradictory or conflicting evidence. “Matters of law” are the components of a claim as defined by statutes and appellate court decisions. If your action is in federal court this rule would be found in Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. If you are in a state court, you should research that state’s summary judgment rules.
This is a very critical aspect of your case that you should be well prepared to respond to. If you fail to file an adequate response to the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, and the motion is granted, your case is over and you get no trial. You can, of course, appeal the decision to an appellate court, but it is always better to file a strong response in the trial court and defeat a motion for summary judgment.
You should be prepared to rebut the case law filed by the defendant and to submit case law that is favorable to your position. You need to learn how to research the case law relevant to the issues of your case for two substantial reasons: first, you need to cite supporting case law to convince the judge that the law is on your side on the issue, and secondly, the defense lawyer(s) will generally cite a multitude of cases to support the defendant’s position.
VII. Preparing for trial
There will be a multitude of things you will have to do to prepare for trial. These things will be outlined by the court in an order controlling the case, such as deadlines for filing any pretrial motions. Pretrial motions include dispositive motions and motions in limine designed to prevent the opposing side from introducing certain items of information or evidence. There will also be proposed final pretrial orders, contentions, stipulations of fact, exhibit lists and witness lists.
If the matter is going to be tried to a jury rather than a bench trial, you will also prepare proposed jury instructions and your objections to the defendants’ jury instructions. Depending on your court’s local rules, you will have to prepare voir dire questions, which are questions to be asked of potential jurors during jury selection.
You will of course have to have copies of all your exhibits, labeled, with a copy that you will introduce into evidence and a copy for the court and defense counsel. You should become familiar with how to do an effective opening and closing statement. Again, be familiar with the rules of procedure and rules of evidence so you will know how to get your evidence admitted at trial. If you fail to do adequate preparation and don’t do your homework to become knowledgeable with the rules of trial procedure and rules of evidence, you will face many objections by opposing counsel and you will become overwhelmed at trial. Your chances of success will be greatly diminished.
Trial preparation can be an overwhelming process and it is very important to do your due diligence with respect to preparing your pleadings and your legal arguments, and being able to address legal points that come up during the trial. When you are preparing your various court papers, it can be helpful to review other court cases as court files are a matter of public record and you can learn a great deal from studying court pleadings in other cases that went to trial. For example, you can take jury instructions from another case similar to yours and tailor the jury instructions for your case. You can do the same thing with pleadings and tailor them to your case.
Because most trials involve a multitude of documents, this alone can be a potential problem for you to handle at trial and will disrupt your thought process and the flow of the trial if you find yourself overwhelmed in keeping track of and looking for particular documents throughout the trial. For this reason, if you have somebody that is responsible and competent enough to help you keep track of the documents and help you stay organized at trial, you can ask the judge for permission to allow this person to sit with you at trial and assist you with the paperwork aspect of things. This would be a tremendous help to you and something that would be wise for you to consider.
very helpful, thank you
https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Pro-Se-Handbook-APPROVED-v2019-2.pdf
Thank you very much for putting this out for the public. I just found this while I am in a hopeless place. I had no choice but to become pro se due to no attorney willing to take my case because it is against my former employers in the Federal Government, which always seems like they are covered under immunity no matter how much they ruin your life. I don’t know what I am doing no matter how many times I read the local and civil rules because it is absolute jargon which has caused me many mistakes. The difficult part of this is that the defense refuses to participate in the discovery process. I didn’t know how to rebut the motion to dismiss but the information provided here gives me some idea. I thought it be sufficient to state your response alone but now I see your responses must be accompanied by any case law in favor of the context. It appears this is common to be written with virtually anything provided to the court. Thanks again for your hard work and care to help others. It is appreciated and came to me at a time of feeling defeated. God Bless All involved!!
Hi Monique, I’m very sorry to hear that you are having so much difficulty dealing with the discovery process and how the court is treating you. As far as your pro se pleadings are concerned, please know that the court is obligated under the Supreme Court precedent of Haines v. Kerner, et al., 401 U.S. 519; 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972) to give your pro se pleading liberal reading and less stringent standards since your pleadings are being prepared without the assistance of legal counsel. Don’t be afraid to cite this Supreme Court case if necessary to let the court know that it has an obligation to give you some latitude with your written pleadings. Haines v. Kerner, et al., 401 U.S. 519; 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). As for the defense’s apparent unwillingness to participate in the discovery process, that is something that is not allowed under the discovery rules. You can file a motion to compel under Rule 37, file a motion to compel discovery and explain to the court what the defense is doing in refusing to participate in the discovery process. Google for caselaws from your particular judicial district and there should be some caselaws you can cite. If you can’t locate any caselaws, file the motion without caselaws but cite Rule 37 (but it would be better if you can include some caselaws, even just one or two). I hope this helps.
Hello. My name is Tara and I’ve recently been granted the right to file a civil lawsuit over discrimination from the EEOC (federal sector). I was wondering if I could use material evidence from the EEOC’s discovery process in the civil case and if there’s a certain motion to file to go about it, or will the civil case have it’s own discovery step? Thank you.
Hi Tara. I assume you are going to file your civil case in federal court? The answer to your question is yes, you can use material evidence from the EEOC’s discovery process in the civil case. The evidence you unearthed in that process is admissible in the civil case, and there is no “certain motion” per se that you will need to file to incorporate it into the civil case. It will be treated much the same as any other evidence you may obtain/discover through other means, with the caveat that all evidence is subject to objections and legal arguments in opposition thereto. When you file your civil case the case will have its own discovery steps so you need to get familiar with the court’s discovery rules process, and all other processes as well. For discovery, you will want to get familiar with Rule 26 to get you started. Now remember, when you filed your civil case you will have the right to file discovery requests, issue subpoenas for evidence and testimony, submit interrogatories to defendants, take depositions of defendants and non-defendant witnesses, submit requests for admissions, etc., so be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the governing rules so that you will know what you are entitled to do in terms of discovery, and also in terms of other aspects of the litigation that are sure to come up such as motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, etc. If you are in federal court, you want to review the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and also the Federal Rules of Evidence, if you are in state court, you will want to review that state’s rules of civil procedure and rules of evidence. Another thing you will want to do is get familiar with your court’s “local rules”, many pro se’s neglect to do this.
Hi, I am a pro se civil complainant on a county jail for deliberate indifference to my severe alcohol withdrawals. I went to emergency room and got prescribed librium by the e.r. Dr. While in route to the Leavenworth County jail. The jail nurse refused me any treatment or alcohol assessments. She don’t get along with any of yhe inmates. But, I couldn’t even get my medicines the doctor prescribed and got very sick for almost 10 weeks. I am also disabled from traumatic brain injuries and schizophrenia. Along with many other mental health diagnosis. I was sentenced to a year for a driving on suspended and did all county time. I can’t get really any discovery from defense and am having a hard time with this case. It is case number cv-21-3152 in district of kansas and listed as pemberton v. Wardrop. I want to know where I can get help. I’ve tried and cant find a. Attorney to help. The nurse also refused me any more mental health while I was there which amounted to torture. Saying not to come to jail to get medical help. And if I requested medical she wouldn’t treat and would just take my money which she done every time I’ve requested medical. Anything will help. Thank you.
This document is a clever trap, the information needed by a Pro Se is woven in oblique words and gives no real answers as to how one would navigate thru the system. This is how America treats it’s Pro Se applicants. It’s hide and go seek and your hiding in the shadows
basically creating a SCARE as to: Can anyone really think about doing this. The article is manipulative and weaves a culture of apprehension. Lawyer’s are unavailable to the Pro Se and all the nonsense of available help is just that. There is virtually no help for
the common person. The help is poisonous at best and really what happens is today’s Lawyers are MONEY hounds sniffing there clients. The Legal system in the US is flawed and based on Corporate greed. What is needed is not out there because it’s all about money rather than service. So your article is at best worthless to anyone looking for real help. Reminds me of Donald Trump who
is a clown at using the Law; The Law that he twists and turns and buys Lawyers like dead fish. Shame on you and you I’m here to
help you. Sugar Coated bs. Amen
I have found your shared information very helpful. Can you tell me what happens or how do I retify the defendant saying they never received my interrogatories before close of discovery? Aren’t interrogatories part of discovery? I forwarded them to the defendant again 1 week before close of discovery but was told it was too late. So, how can I incorporate them now. Although alot of my interrogatories were in my initial disclosures, does this help me at all? Thanks for your time and response.
Hi Paula,
How did you serve the interrogatories to the defendant? Generally speaking interrogatories are served by way of regular first class mail and you attach a certificate of service attesting that you sent them in the mail that day, but some people will send them via certified mail or several other means such as personal service, etc. Do you have any proof at all that you could file with the court? If not, your certificate of service should suffice insofar as what is required bare minimum. When you say you “forwarded” them to the defendant again 1 week before the close of discovery, how did you do that? Did you “forward” it via email? If so, that would be excellent proof. You could ask the court to hold a hearing on the matter and explain to the court that you provided the interrogatories to the defendant and that you wish to use the interrogatories. If the defendant still maintains he/she didn’t receive them, you can give them to the defendant at the hearing. It sounds like it is a game the defendant is playing with you to make it look as though you didn’t serve the interrogatories in order that the defendant can prevent you from using them. If you attached a certificate of service, you should be okay.
Brian
I am currently Pro Se and found everything that BRIAN, stated this Plaintiff has done. The defendants’ lawyers only brought motions to dismiss my case in its entirety. The initial motion to dismiss 12 (b)(6) included leaving off the Inc., on the company name, and the timing of the EEOC motion was DENY. Second, the motion to dismiss 26 (f) timing of the EEOC and failure to state a claim ( most common). Instead of following rule 26 (f) defendant’s lawyers filed a motion to “STAY” GRANTED. The defendants’ lawyers included the Plaintiff’s failure to request leave to amend The Plaintiff later made that request and the defendants’ lawyers filed a motion in opposition to the Plaintiff’s request for leave.”Plaintiffs may respond to a motion to dismiss by amending the complaint as a matter of right, i.e. without permission from the courts or from the parties. Fladurng v. city of Boulder, 165 Colo. 244, 438 Pl 2d 688 (1968).The plaintiff then filed a Rule 34 motion to compel discovery 26(f) and Rule 19-failure to join a party. Next for this Plaintiffs for the Defendants will be the interrogatories At this point am ahead of them and have time to learn these processes and the structure of the paperwork. Thank GOD for Youtube.
Steven Levine:
I agree with Mr Levine. Enough information to hang ones self. The same problem with the information you get from the Court. Just enough to get into the process (e.g. Complaint, summons, etc) but little past that. The key is the Hearsay rule and are your documents Non-hearsay so you can get them into evidence. A pro-se may not have witnesses so only the documents count. If you want to improve this: List all type of document (e.g. contract, documents received from other party, documents mailed to other party, web pages, Your record of contracts) and address how one can get each into evidence. My2Cents
Hello. My husband currently has a money judgment against Health Partners Plans. He filed an amended complaint with court, which was denied and now has 20 days to answer the Defendant’s preliminary objections. I have no clue where to start?
Hello Andrea. First off, be sure to file an answer to the Defendant’s preliminary objections within the 20 days. If you don’t file a time answer, you could seriously potentially jeopardize your case. Go to your court’s local rules and also your state’s rules of civil procedure for some guidance as to what they require you to do in that particular court. Opposing lawyers and judges expect pro se’s to screw up procedurally so be sure to file an answer within the 20 days so as to head that off.
Hello I am in the process of an EEOC case in which the agency has listed me as a witness in my own case which I’m representing myself Pro Se, my question is do I have to testify against myself or can I refuse, and if I am abele to dispute the agency’s request, how do I go about that process?
Thank you,
Ben
Hi Ben,
I see your case is an EEOC case, but what stage is it in? In other words, is it still in the EEOC stage or is it in formal litigation in court? If the case is in court, and you are the plaintiff, yes, you must testify, being pro se doesn’t give you any exception to not testify. The opponents have a right to take your testimony, in deposition and also at trial. it would be a big mistake for you to even try to avoid testimony as a plaintiff, don’t do that. As plaintiff, they have the right to question you and receive testimony from you. Absolutely you must testify. Do not make the mistake that some pro se’s do when they “plead the fifth” while testifying in a civil case as plaintiffs, that is a HUGE mistake as courts have the right in civil cases to assume as a matter of law that the testimony you attempt to conceal would be adverse to your position in the case. Courts cannot do that in a criminal case, but are allowed to do so in civil cases. You are the plaintiff, you must testify. I know this is probably not what you wanted to hear, but it is something that you need to know. I hope the information helps.
Brian
Good afternoon, I am a pro Se Litigant in federal courts. I submitted my pleading in-order not to run out of time. I need to request for the court to allow me to submit my admended pleading. I sent an email to the opposing council seeing if they would oppose my request; they stated they would have to consult with their client. However I know that the judge can grant me leave. How should I go about asking for leave of the courts in order to submit my amended pleading?
And by the way, be sure to include a copy of your proposed amended complaint with the motion.
Consult Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. File a motion for leave to file amended pleading and cite Rule 15.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_15
Dear Mr. VUKADINOVICH,
I am Pro Se in civil case I filed with the Court, regarding pedestrian accident where negligence of owner of this place was obvious. Pictures I took , medical treatment all well documented. I went to the stage where Defendant’s attorney came up with the first offer, which I will reject. I really see clearly that I will end up with the trial. Would you be so kind and provide me with advice how can I do that. All I need to tell me by an attorney how to play to win. I went that far on my own, and I am determined to win this case. The injury include regional pain syndrome confirmed by neurologist, too.
Hello Dorothy, if you go to trial be sure to get very familiar with the rules of evidence in your state’s court system. Admitting medical evidence can get very tricky such as admitting medical reports and so forth, so be sure to be ready to handle that part of things as the defendant’s lawyer will surely swarm you with objections as to evidentiary issues, particularly with respect to medical records, and medical records are a must if you are to be able to win a trial on accident negligence that resulted in physical injury. To be clear, there is a difference between “rules of procedure” and “rules of evidence” so be sure to get familiar with most, and I can’t stress enough to get very familiar with the rules of evidence so you don’t get ambushed at the trial with objections that you aren’t prepared to handle. Good luck, I hope you win!
Brian
P.S. – I know it can be expensive, but it would be very helpful for you to have the doctor who treated you at the trial to testify, that would make it a lot easier to get medical records into evidence and would give more persuasive to the jury when the doctor testifies as to what was all necessarily involved medically.
Hello Brian, I have an employer who thinks its it’s ok to take money from my pay without my understanding or knowledge, and I have a text about only me and one other employee has to have a 1 hour break lunch while everyone else gets paid lunches, I was also asked if I would quit my job in verbally and if I would just go on Disability and quit, I had to take out of my own pay to buy things for the company and still have proof and the employer refuses to pay me back, I also requested a form where I am Not under any contract and just got excuses and I lost a really good job Opportunity, I have a text stating that its prohibited rule is that employees cannot talk about each others pay, He hires people under the table to avoid tax reasons and they claim during a text message they are reporting it to the IRS but the employees never gave a ID nor a SS# to the employer and it also seems this Employer engages is a Kickback to try and to make his company richer you probably wonder how, Most employees that I have came cross of he’s wage theft them in some way or if they are making $11 an hour he will drop there pay to $10 an hour I have seen this for my own eyes and i’m trying to get the records from the past employee, please tell me am I crazy or stupid as the employers tell me or is these things not agents the law, I am thinking about doing the pro se. in court I have proof of what I am talking about and I think all what they will bring is ummmmmmmmm. I have been through the DOL and called a few lawyers they want 250+ for a session for one question I also feel as I am being to set up to fail my job I’m a supervisor and cannot get my orders and I have to buy things from time to time and now I’m the ONLY cleaner for a big calling center and another building that take 3 hours to clean, they took my Calling center and my other building my Travel and My laundry and put it in 40 hours a week and told me that if I get over time my ass is gone? so please does this sound like I am crazy or stupid,
please email me as I may can’t find your response
Hello Jeremy,
I’m sorry to hear about all of those problems with your employer. Indeed there are many unscrupulous employers out there in the country who take advantage of and abuse employees. Have you considered filing a complaint with your state’s department of workplace, most states have an agency where employees can file complaints. Many states are weak about how they protect employees’ rights and most of the time the people have to battle things on their own without any help. Sounds like you have already got the typical nonsense from the lawyer who want $250 just to ask a question. Lawyers are a disgraceful and shameful bunch, it’s all about money with them. But it sounds like you have evidence to back up your statements. You can file a lawsuit pro se, but it will be tough as courts routinely look down on pro se litigants, and you can bet the employer will have a lawyer, or a team of lawyers, to fight you in court. It’s not impossible, but it is very tough. And no, it doesn’t sound at all as though you are crazy or stupid, you are simply trying to be treated respectfully, and you have to apologize to nobody for that. Consider filing a complaint with your states Department of Labor, they may be interested in knowing about how this employer is playing games with peoples’ pay. I wish you the best.
Brian Vukadinovich
I have filed a complaint with the EEOC and the Department of labor Wage and Hour Division after 2 months I get an email that they are going to file NO action’s on this still unclear why they are not doing any action. I literally have physical proof of the unlawful deductions on my pay and text message where it’s just me and one other employee who has to take a 1 hour unpaid lunch while everyone else gets paid lunches I actually even received a message today that my clock in and out time will be going on an app? now this is due to where I cannot have proof of my time’s anymore I am currently in the beginning of going to counseling due to the stress and anxiety they are causing I even had to go to the ER with Sevier chest pain and about them having a team of lawyers this guy is the owner of his own franchise company and he don’t even have to money hardly to pay his workers all there labor work he wants more females in his company than males witch I don’t understand and i’m surly if I can face them in my office and still walk out with my head held high I can do it in court even as Pro se if need to be. but I am trying to find answers before that time due to not looking like a jackass in front of the judge. and yes lawyers are really not there to help other people I have asked so many lawyers and its always 250 and up for me to ask them question’s on how to calculate the law suit, its just every turn I go to I get shut down or I find myself getting shut up, I even had an employee quit due to her pay and the general manager always jumping on her and she never told me because me and the general manager would go at it, I’ll never shut up nor will I give up until Justice is served to these 2 crooks any advice on how to calculate pain and suffering and setting me up to fail I can prove this in a court.
This is a helpful overview. I have been representing myself in a civil med malpractice case since 2020 (not because I want to – but because I can’t find anyone to take it); and this type of overview is important in preparing to be proactive vs reactive (to the other party’s legal gamesmanship).