I WANT TO FILE A LAWSUIT IN LOS ANGELES - HOW DOES IT WORK?
In the United States, an individual can file a lawsuit in federal or state court. In order to file in federal court, a plaintiff must have standing --- a complicated requirement that an experienced attorney can discuss with you. In state court, there is no such requirement. As long as you have a civil or criminal action, you will likely be able to bring your lawsuit.
In state court, the first step is to try your case at the lowest level, the trial court. If you lose at this level, your case is not over --- you can appeal the trial court’s ruling and request that the appellate court reviews your case. Especially if the appellate court thinks your case covers an area that needs further review or explanation, they will decide to review it and then can publish an opinion. The opinion will become the standard for the trial court to follow in a similar situation.
If you are still unhappy with the outcome of your case, you can apply to have the state Supreme Court hear your case. While the Supreme Court will only take a small percentage of cases they are asked to look at, when they do, their ruling is final. The Supreme Court often reviews cases that involve the Constitution or that relate to a heavily contested and/or unclear area of the law.
Some of these laws include the California Regulations enforced by the CA Department of Fair Employment and Housing. We are experienced employment lawyers knowledgeable in the area of employment law and employee rights and have more information about these laws on our website. These are listed for information purposes only, and should not be relied upon as a basis for deciding a particular case, as we do not update our site on a weekly basis, and the regulations may change from time to time. If you think you may have a case, please feel free to call us for a telephone consultation.
