When an injury accident occurs, the injured person may be able to sue the other party for negligence in a Nevada district court, have the case heard by a judge or jury, and receive a judgment. However, some cases are not that simple.
According to the National Center for State Courts, there are a number of factors that may turn a lawsuit into complex litigation. For example, a case may involve complex substantive law, choice of law or complex subject matter, or it may include the following:
- Multiple parties who are in different geographic locations
- The need for many expert witnesses
- Extensive information exchanges between parties regarding witnesses and evidence
- Determination of damages requiring professional analyses
A class action lawsuit is one example of complex litigation. The Legal Intelligencer explains that these arise when many people are injured because of the actions of a defendant. Rather than each plaintiff filing an action against the defendant, a single case is filed that focuses on the problems that are common to every injured party who is involved. In this type of case, people are typically offered the opportunity to join the class action or to opt out.
A similar type of complex litigation is a mass tort. Instead of a single case involving many plaintiffs, mass torts involve may individual actions that all have common questions of fact. Rather than have them heard in multiple district courts, they are combined and managed in a single jurisdiction. The information that the attorneys have gathered from their clients can all be consolidated and presented at the trial.
