What Happens When You File a Lawsuit

Hi, I’m Gary Burger of Burger Law. We’ve spent the last week or so at the firm filing a lot of lawsuits, and my clients
asked me, “Why are we filing a lawsuit? Why are we doing this? What is that?” Well, whenever you’re injured or you
suffered some type of a damage, you have a claim against something, it’s something you hold, but it’s not concrete. When
you file a lawsuit, you’re actually filing a claim in court to resolve this civil dispute between you and the person who
injured you or caused you damage. Folks file suits for personal injuries, breach of contract, domestic issues, all kinds
of stuff. We learned in the last election that our President Donald Trump has filed 3,500 lawsuits in the course of his
business, so lawsuits are something that are used to resolve disputed claims of damage.

What I do typically, when I’m asked to litigate commercial disputes is typically we file personal injury cases, and in
personal injury cases, the person who’s injured sues the parties whose negligence, whose rule violation, whose conduct
proximately caused that injury, and there are various jury instructions, there is a lot of law on this for a lot of
years. So when you file a lawsuit, you’re filing a claim in court. There is called a petition in Missouri, a complaint
in Illinois, a complaint in federal court. That’s the legal document that sets forth the claims. Sometimes there’s one
count, sometimes there are numerous counts to explain the different theories of relief against the defendant and you
say, “What happened? What gave rise to the duty? What did the defendant did wrong and what the damages are for that?”
And you file suit, you get service on the person. After that you go through a process called litigation and that is
where the parties exchange information and documents. They do it through questions, through requests for documents, and
then you take depositions, and ultimately you go to a trial, but just because you file suit doesn’t mean you’re trying a
case. What it does is it shows the defendant you mean business and you’re continuing to progress the case to get the
best result possible.

One of the goals that I try to do is put the maximum amount of recovery or the maximum compensation in my clients. I
happen – and this is not a prop – I happen to have on my coffee cups the word “Compensate”: to supply an equivalent, to
offset an error, to make amends. I was just drinking some water, and so you try to get the maximum compensation for your
client. That’s what all lawyers do, and the defense lawyers try to minimize that.

So, that’s just a little bit about what a lawsuit is, why it’s filed. I have a bunch more videos and other information
on my website, www.burgerlaw.com. If you have any questions about this, call me at 314-542-2222. Thank you.

Gary Burger

Founder | Injury Attorney
Gary Burger has dedicated his career to standing up against bullies. The founder and principal attorney of Burger Law | St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer has helped hundreds of Missouri and Illinois individuals and families recover th …
Years of experience: 30 years
Location: St. Louis, MO

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