How Long Does a Lawsuit Take?

The length of time a lawsuit takes can vary greatly depending on several factors, such as the complexity of the case, the jurisdiction, the court’s schedule, and whether the case settles or goes to trial.

Short Answer: It depends. You can control what you do, but you can’t control the other side. The parties can settle the dispute at any time, regardless of whether an active lawsuit exists or not.

Civil Litigation Stages and Timeline

Pre-litigation (Investigation and Negotiation): Before a lawsuit is started with the filing of a complaint, the attorney should conduct an investigation to determine the merits of the client’s claims. This could take days or weeks, depending on the complexity of the case and amount of evidence to gather and review. Once that is concluded, a pre-litigation demand is typically sent to the potential defendants, alerting them of the claims, demanding a particular resolution, and inviting the defendants to mediation or some other form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to avoid litigation. Depending on how quickly both sides can come to an agreement or gather additional evidence, this process may take days or months.

Filing and Initial Stages: Once the lawsuit is filed, the defendant is given a certain period to respond (usually 30 days). The time to respond does not start until the defendant is served with the summons. If you have difficulty locating the defendant for personal service, or the defendant is evading service, it make take weeks or months to locate the defendant and for a process server to attempt diligent service. If that is unsuccessful, you may have to file a motion for a court order to serve the summons by other means, such as by publication. Motions are heard depending on the availability of the judge, and this can take weeks or months.

• If the defendant files a demurrer or otherwise challenges the complaint or service, such as a motion to quash the summons, the demurrer or motion is again heard depending on the availability of the judge. If the judge rules in the defendant’s favor, the judge may give you time to amend or fix the errors, and then give the defendant additional time to answer the complaint.
• Once a defendant finally “answers”, the defendant is essentially “appearing” to defend the lawsuit. The lawsuit will now be “at issue” once all the defendants have appeared.

Written Discovery: Typically, after all the defendants have appeared, discovery begins, which is the process where both sides exchange information and evidence.

• Discovery usually takes several months, or sometimes years, depending on the complexity of the case and the amount of evidence that needs to be gathered and reviewed.
• The California Code of Civil procedure controls when you can start “propounding discovery”, meaning sending written discovery. Most parties wait until the case is at issue.
• The responding party to any propounded written discovery has 30 days (plus time for service), to respond. Extensions to respond, however, are routinely granted between attorneys to allow more time to respond. Many jurisdictions and judges encourage or even have local rules or orders requiring reasonable requests for extensions to be granted by the propounding party.
• Subpoenas may also sent out to third parties who are not involved in the lawsuit if those third parties have relevant information and evidence in their possession, custody, or control.
• Motions may be necessary if a party fails to timely respond, or provides insufficient responses. Such motions typically require a “meet and confer” process between the parties, to try to informally resolve the disputes without any motion practice. A motion to compel further responses must be filed within 45 days of receipt of verified responses. Some jurisdictions or judges require the parties to first attend an informal discovery conference, however, before filing a motion, and “pause” the deadline to file such a motion. An informal discovery conference, or IDC, is a meeting with the judge to try to informally resolve the discovery disputes, and the scheduling of an IDC depends on the availability of the judge.
• Each time additional or “supplemental” responses are provided, or more written discovery is propounded, this entire process is repeated.

Depositions: During the written discovery phase, depositions are also typically taken by all the parties in the lawsuit.

• A deposition is a process for a party to obtain the sworn testimony of a witness under the penalty of perjury prior to trial. Minimally, each party will likely take the deposition of the other party. A deposition of any other percipient witnesses may also be required.
• Depositions are usually mutually scheduled depending on the availability of the witness and all the attorneys. This can take weeks or months.
• If a witness fails to appear at a deposition, fails to produce documents at the deposition, or refuses to answer questions at a deposition, then a motion may be necessary. This again depends on the availability of the judge.

Mediation: Before trial, most cases go to mediation or another type of ADR. A neutral party, such as a retired judge or lawyer, tries to help the parties come to an agreement without the need to go to trial. Most parties agree to some sort of ADR after some or all discovery has taken place, so that the parties are aware of all the evidence, and the weaknesses and strengths of each party’s position. Scheduling a mediation depends on the availability of the mediator, the parties, and their attorneys. This can be weeks, or even months, for popular mediators.

Motions: During the discovery phase, there may be various motions filed, including dispositive ones, such as a motion for summary judgment, which claims a trial is not even necessary because there are no disputed issues of material fact. All motions will be heard subject to the availability of the judge, and can take weeks or months.

Pre-Trial Conference or Final Status Conference: Before the case actually goes to trial, there are often motions filed by both parties to resolve certain issues, such as whether certain evidence should be admissible at trial. Each jurisdiction or judge may have different local rules or standing orders that affect the deadlines and timing of these motions. The parties (through their attorneys), and the judge, also review all the “housekeeping” matters to ensure that the case is ready for trial. This means, for example, making sure all the evidence is in a form presentable to the jury, all the witnesses are available to testify, and all the proposed jury instructions and verdict forms have been submitted.

Trial: If the case proceeds to trial, the length of the trial depends on the complexity of the case. Most cases take a few days to a couple of weeks. The trial is scheduled depending on the availability of the judge. At the beginning of the lawsuit, a judge typically holds a case management conference or trial setting conference, to set the initial date for trial to start. Most judges do not have availability for a trial until months or even years down the road, and trials are typically set for one or two years away to ensure the parties have sufficient time to conduct all the discovery necessary for trial. Even so, trial dates are regularly continued for various reasons. For example, judges regularly set many cases for trial on the same date, because not all cases go to trial, such as when they settle. If more than one case is ready to go to trial on the same date, the older case usually takes priority, so your trial may be further delayed because of the judge’s unavailability.

Post-Trial: After a trial, there may be appeals, which can extend the overall timeline by several months or years.

Settlement of a Civil Dispute

• A dispute can settle any time, from the pre-litigation stage, to the post-trial stage. This depends on whether the parties can come to an agreement.
• Statistics show that the majority of lawsuits settle and do not go to trial. Although the data is not always comprehensive and varies, it does show that trials in general have been on a decline over the past century.

How Long do Lawsuits Take in California

• In the 2024 court statistics report for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to the data from the Judicial Council of California, approximately 80% of unlimited civil cases were disposed before trial.
• From the remaining 20%, only 2% went to a jury trial. The rest were resolved by a bench trial or trial de novo.
• In the same time period, over 50% of active lawsuits were “cleared” in one way or another.
• In the same time period, the average case processing time to being disposed was less than 75% of cases within 12 months, slightly more than 75% of cases within 18 months, and less than 90% within 24 months.

Conclusion

Our team at Litigation, P.C., tailors our representation to fit your goals during the litigation process. For a confidential consultation with an experienced civil litigation attorney, contact Litigation, P.C., at 424-284-2401 or online to learn about your legal options. We routinely handle matters throughout SoCal.