California Personal Injury Lawsuit Documents, Deadlines and Hearings

1. Filing documents

Start here for complaint documents, summonses, cover sheets, and the papers used to begin an injury lawsuit.

2. Service and calendar

Find guides to serving defendants, recording service, and understanding how case deadlines are calculated.

3. Answers and pleading challenges

Explore answers, demurrers, amended complaints, and other responses to the initial pleadings.

4. Defaults and damages

Find guides to default requests, statements of damages, and the documents used for a default judgment.

5. Case management conferences

Prepare for case management conferences with guides to statements, meet-and-confer preparation, and court notices.

New to this stage? Start with preparing for your first case management conference, including a practical worksheet for service, evidence, settlement planning, and scheduling.

Discovery forms for California injury cases

Use these guides to distinguish written questions from requests to admit facts or document authenticity.

• DISC-001: Form Interrogatories in California Injury Cases
• DISC-020: Requests for Admission in California Injury Cases

For disputes about responses, use the motion and hearing guides below.

6. Motions and hearing documents

Browse discovery motions, hearing papers, declarations, and summary judgment preparation.

7. Settlement and trial preparation

Explore settlement conferences, settlement documents, trial readiness, and pretrial preparation.

County filing guides

Choose your county for its filing-document guide and links to local court resources.