If counsel decides to take a case after meeting with the client and assessing the merits of his or her claim\u00a0– see post, June 26, 2012, and the dispute has not been resolved by some other means, then civil litigation formally begins with counsel preparing a Notice of Claim.<\/p>\n
Preparing and filing a Notice of Claim is\u00a0one of the first four steps in the civil litigation process collectively known as the Pleadings – several\u00a0additional steps continue the process to trial:<\/p>\n
The Pleadings concisely define the issues between the parties and set out the facts.\u00a0 The Notice of Claim describes the parties and the fact that the Plaintiff is starting a legal action in court against a defendant or a group of defendants.\u00a0 The Statements of Claim and Defence, and Counter Claims are a listing of the facts, including the technical facts.<\/p>\n
Counsel, in preparing a Notice of\u00a0Claim,\u00a0might take a closer look at the existing information\u00a0relied on initially in deciding whether or not to take the case.<\/p>\n
Deciding to prepare a Notice of Claim and go forward with an action\u00a0is a critical step for counsel and the client.\u00a0 It’s a critical step because the\u00a0Plaintiff has gone public in a sense and is on record that\u00a0they believe they are entitled to damages for a perceived wrong.\u00a0\u00a0To some extent\u00a0there’s no turning back.\u00a0 The decision to prepare and file a Notice of Claim must be well informed\u00a0– see below, Case #1; Damaged Aircraft Wing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Professional engineers can assist at this stage by also studying the existing\u00a0information more closely, identifying the known technical issues and facts, and assessing the technical\u00a0position of the parties that might be involved\u00a0in the action.\u00a0 Some new information is likely to be gathered by the engineer (see list below) because of the critical nature of this step.<\/p>\n (Up to this point –\u00a0preparing a Notice of Claim – an\u00a0assessment of merit is based mainly on existing information.\u00a0 Preparing a Statement of Claim to which the Notice\u00a0of Claim\u00a0is typically\u00a0attached\u00a0is certain to\u00a0involve some detailed gathering of new information – see future\u00a0posting).<\/p>\n The role of a professional engineer would involve carrying\u00a0out the following tasks.\u00a0 Technical data from these tasks would\u00a0contribute to counsel\u2019s assessment of the strength of a case and whether or not to actually prepare and file a Notice of Claim and begin a lawsuit:<\/p>\n Case #1; Damaged Aircraft Wing: <\/strong>Assessing technical strength.\u00a0 A lawyer considered that his client had a claim for more than one million dollars in damages to an aircraft wing.\u00a0 The lawyer was quite certain about this.\u00a0 It was understood that hydrochloric acid had formed in an exhaust pipe from a paint shop and dripped on the wing corroding the skin and the spar inside. \u00a0A professional\u00a0engineer was retained to investigate the situation.\u00a0 He established during a visual examination of the site that the\u00a0aircraft wing was damaged by acid but the\u00a0situation was such\u00a0that the client did not have a strong case.\u00a0 Preparation of the Notice of Claim was stopped.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n References<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If counsel decides to take a case after meeting with the client and assessing the merits of his or her claim\u00a0– see post, June 26, 2012, and the dispute has not been resolved by some other means, then civil litigation … Continue reading \n
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