Civil litigation is the process by which disputes are resolved in the courts through lawsuits. If you have been sued, or if you have a claim in which a lawsuit needs to be filed, you need an experienced civil litigation attorney. 

The Bastrop civil litigation attorneys at the Law Office of Derek R, Van Gilder have decades of experience representing parties on both sides of lawsuits. Civil litigation is the process by which disputes are resolved in the courts through lawsuits. If you have been sued, or if you have a claim in which a lawsuit needs to be filed, you need an experienced civil litigation attorney. 

Civil litigation is a serious matter. The stakes can be very high for all of the parties involved. It’s important to have lawyers you can trust to always fight for your legal rights and to protect you from unlawful violations of your privacy in the litigation process.

A default judgment may be entered by the court if an answer is not on file by 10:00 a.m. on the answer day deadline. Once you have been served with the lawsuit papers (called “service of process”), you should hire a lawyer immediately.

When is your answer deadline in a Texas state district court or county court? Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 99(b) mandates that “[t]he citation shall direct the defendant to file a written answer to the plaintiff’s petition on or before 10:00 a.m. on the Monday next after the expiration of twenty days after the date of service thereof.” So you start counting the day after you were served (that’s Day 1) and then count 20 days. Your answer is due on the very next Monday after Day 20.

After the answer to the lawsuit is filed, there are many things that need to be done to properly defend a civil lawsuit. Our goal, of course, is to try to get the case dismissed without a trial.