What is the Difference Between General District Court and Circuit Court?
—By John Merrick —
With a busy practice, it is tempting to set questions aside until there is enough time to provide a comprehensive response. But we know that our clients deserve a prompt and thorough response.
To provide excellent service to our clients, I’ve prepared detailed responses to common questions so that I can respond immediately. I tailor the response to the particular facts in each case.
One of the keys to providing a prompt response is to keep it simple and avoid getting bogged down by all the potential nuances. Save the nuances – “well, it depends” – for a conversation, or where the nuance actually applies to a client’s particular case.
The attached form answers the common questions of “Where will my suit be filed?” and “What is the difference between General District Court and Circuit Court?”
| General District | Circuit Court |
| To get the case started, file a Warrant in Debt and pick the Return Date, which is normally the date for the parties to appear and set the case for trial. Serve the defendant(s). | To get the case started, file a Complaint and arrange to serve the defendant(s) with process (Summons + Complaint). Best practice is to serve written discovery with the Complaint. |
| The most you can recover is $50,000 (in a personal injury case). |
Generally, there is no limit on the amount of recovery in personal injury cases (although some case-types have “caps”). |
| The case will be decided by a judge. | You have the right to a trial by jury. |
| The losing party has an automatic right to appeal to Circuit Court, where the case starts over. |
The losing party can appeal to the Court of Appeals, but the party will not get a new trial to start over unless there is a finding of error in the Circuit Court. |
|
Litigation costs tend to be much lower. The greatest cost tends to be gathering the medical records and bills from your providers along with an affidavit from the records custodian. |
Litigation costs can be very high and are often driven by filing fees, court reporter fees, transcript fees, expert fees, etc. |
|
Medical expert testimony is not required (to prove causation a plaintiff can introduce her medical records or a doctor’s report into evidence with a proper affidavit). |
Medical expert testimony is often required to prove the cause of the injury and the necessity of all claimed treatment. |
| Discovery is very limited (parties can obtain documents and things from non-parties with subpoenas duces tecum). |
There are multiple tools for discovery, including subpoenas, depositions, requests for production, requests for admission, and interrogatories.
|
| Parties get a relatively quick trial date, usually within three to six months after filing suit. | Parties often wait over a year for a trial date, especially for multi-day trials. |
Posted In: Uncategorized