If I go to Court, will that increase my expenses? If so, what kind of expenses can I expect?

Yes, filing fees are incurred when a Complaint (a civil law suit) is filed. The amount of the filing fees is dependent upon the amount of the lawsuit filed. Filings in Circuit or Superior Court usually exceed $100.00. In addition to the filing fees, there are fees incurred for serving the Complaint. The amount of the service fees vary, depending on the type of service required and the Court in which you want to file your claim.. In addition, typically, process servers or sheriffs charge a fee of $12.00 for each service requested. For example, if you have two defendants, the fee would be $24.00 for a typical service fee. However, in some instances when the party to be served is not able to be served or is no longer a resident of the State wherein the lawsuit is filed, service must be obtained either by the Secretary of the Commonwealth or the Department of Motor Vehicles and the current charge for each of those services is $28.00.

In addition, as the case moves along, interrogatories, correspondence, postage, and depositions add costs to the case. The depositions include the cost of the court reporter appearance fee, and the charge for the transcription, if ordered by the attorneys. These costs will vary, depending on the size of the transcript. These charges can vary from one or two hundred dollars to in excess of $1000.00 for each deposition.

Finally, if any expert witnesses, such as your treating doctors, are deposed, and their testimony is utilized for trial, in addition to the court reporter costs, the doctors will charge for their time, both for preparation for the deposition and review of records, conferencing with your attorney, and also for the time to actually give their testimony. These costs vary widely for each specialty. Some doctors charge as much as $2500.00 per hour for a deposition to be used in Court.