Services

Reed Bloodworth accepts cases from plaintiffs and from defendants. Plaintiff clients are offered several payment methods to begin cases including: hourly fees, project fee, contingency or a hybrid fee structure.

Defendant clients are offered hourly fees or project fees to begin a case.

Reed feels it’s important clients understand the various outcomes when litigation on an issue begins. While a client often wants to sue an opposing party–which can become expensive and lengthy–there may be alternatives better suited to reach client goals. Reed forms a team with clients to pursue the desired outcome on a case.

When a business dispute incites legal action, or a problem or action arises involving a trust or an estate, learn your options. Reed invites you to ask questions and provides answers you’ll understand.

Talk about your legal problems in a formal consultation by calling Reed at 407-777-8541 or send questions to attorney Reed Bloodworth at Reed@LawyerFightsForYou.com Work with a skilled attorney who you’re confident can and will help you in the area of law in which you’re having problems.

Business litigation is a very common term which means civil litigation pertaining to a business. Very typical business litigation scenarios include:

• A breach of contract
• A shareholder or partnership dispute
• Various business torts
• Fraudulent misrepresentation
• Negligent misrepresentation
• Violation of trade secrets

I handle trust and estate litigation which means that I represent people who are beneficiaries or who should be beneficiaries in the realm of trusts and in wills, or in probate litigation. Typical causes of action include:

• Undue Influence
• Lack of Capacity
• Tortious Interference with a Testamentary Expectancy

Many people ask how a lawsuit “works” or progresses. I tell clients that the case varies and that no case can be compared to yours. Facts in every case vary so I thought I would answer the question: what are the 3 stages of a lawsuit?

First, when the lawsuit is filed, the lawsuit proceeds in three stages:

• Pleadings Stage
• Discovery Stage
• Trial Stage

The Complaint is Filed: You have your pleadings stage which is where we file a complaint stating what the other party did wrong.

We’re saying that someone did something wrong and that it caused physical harm or injury due the action taken by the other party. We file a complaint on behalf of you, the plaintiff, or defendant, in a formal complaint against the other party.

It may be against a business, an individual, a corporation, or even a government entity, but we’re stating that their actions or inactions caused injury to you through their negligence.

Defendant Response: The defendant will then have to file an answer in affirmative defenses.

Now, sometimes, defendants file a Motion to Dismiss, in which case we have to go to a Hearing. Occasionally we have to file an Amended Complaint. If that occurs we will attempt to prevail on our motion to dismiss and the defendant will have to file an answer in affirmative defenses. When that is filed that is the end of stage one of a case and the end of the Pleadings Stage.

The second stage is Discovery. The Discovery Stage is made up of:

1. Paper Discovery
2. Evidence
3. Questions

Paper discovery, meaning we go and attempt to gather up all the available information pertaining to your case.

Evidence and a lot of that evidence comes from a range of official sources, police records, contracts, paperwork signed by parties involved. Information provided in statements by witnesses, parties involved and we build a case.

The other thing we do is we’ll serve written questions to the defendant. Those are known as interrogatories and we make them answer those questions. Those are usually more basic questions such as who was involved.

The other standard discovery tool is a Deposition which I’m sure you’ve seen many times on TV. But what happens in a deposition? In a deposition, the attorney sits down with someone in the case, a witness in the case or a party in the case and asks a number of questions to lock in their testimony and get questions about the case answered.

The deposition involves the plaintiff, or the defendant, and their legal representation. Both parties may be represented, but you are not necessarily going to be seeing the defendant or the plaintiff. You are more likely to see the opposition’s attorney. The opposing counsel is allowed to ask you questions about what happened in the incident.

I will be at the deposition with you and I will prepare you for the deposition so that you understand what will happen. You will be asked questions and I will be there to raise objections should the opposing attorney become aggressive or ask questions that are not allowed.

The reason we do this is we want to know exactly what they’re going to say if and when we go to trial. If they attempt to say something different in trial we can then cross them with their previous testimony.

This is known as discovery. The opposing counsel has the right to find out what you will say in a court of law should the case go to trial. Stories must be exact and should not change.

Sometimes a case will be settled out of court and resolved in an early Settlement. There is no way to know whether this will happen or what the amount will be.

A settlement involves negotiation between the two parties outside a courtroom and is usually involving attorneys: a plaintiff’s attorney vs. the defendant’s attorney who is often representing a business, an individual or a corporation or insurance company.

Sometimes when there is a disputed issue, mediation may be involved where both sides resolve differences by giving and taking to come to an agreed action or amount of money to right the wrong. But the goal is to resolve differences and settle on an amount that will be paid to the plaintiff for the wrong that occurred. When a settlement is not possible, the case goes to trial

Summary Judgment

The Third Stage is the Trial Stage. In any case, if you don’t win a Summary Judgment the case will have to go to trial.

What is a Summary Judgment?

A Summary Judgment is when all of the facts in a case are agreed to by both sides and the only issue left to decide is one of pure law. A summary judgment ends the case.