After a defendant has filed a response to a civil suit against them, what happens next?
After a municipal defendant has filed a response to a civil suit against them in state court, what happens next?
Does self representing plaintiff file a rebuttal to defendant's answer or simply wait for case to go to trial?
Notwithstanding legal motions or options available to plaintiff such as: motion for judgement on pleading/summary judgement, motion for arbitration, settlement conference, motion for discovery, subpoenas etc.
Answers:
What happens next depends entirely on what type of claims you are making and where you are located. Different states have different laws about how things ought to proceed.
If they raised claims against you (rather than merely replying to the claims you made), you need to answer their claims. Beyond that, you need to move the case towards trial. If you think you can do that effectively, you are probably wrong.
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Usually wait for a trial date.
The filing of the answer is termed "joinder of issue." Next comes discovery. The parties are allowed to demand relevant documents, to take depositions, and other forms of discovery. The defendant can move to have the case thrown out if you omitted a technical requirement in your complaint. You can move for summary judgment if the facts are not in dispute and you are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
After those hoops are jumped through, it's time for "calendar practice," which is the fertility dance that must be performed to get the case set down for trial. The process varies dramatically from state to state, sometimes from county to county, and occasionally from judge to judge in the county. Ask the court clerk about the papers that must be filed to get the case on the calendar.
The only time you would file a "rebuttal" to the answer is if the answer contains a counterclaim. You need to "reply" to a counterclaim in much the same way as the defendant answered the complaint.
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