If your claim involves a personal injury or medical malpractice, Connecticut statutes provide certain limits concerning the court location where your case can be filed. Lawyers and judges refer to this concept as the proper venue. The Connecticut venue statutes can be found in sections 51-344 and 51-345 of the Connecticut General Statutes. If all parties reside outside of Connecticut, then the case would be filed in the district where the injury occurred. If any of the parties are residents of Connecticut, the case may be filed by the plaintiff in the judicial district where either the plaintiff or any one of the defendants resides. There are some exceptions to these general rules. For example, if either the plaintiff or the defendant resides in Darien, Greenwich (Cos Cob, Old Greenwich, Riverside); New Canaan, Norwalk (South Norwalk), Stamford, Weston, Westport, or Wilton, there is a choice of bringing the case in either the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk in Stamford or the Judicial District of Fairfield in Bridgeport, which would also cover Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford, and Trumbull. Another exception would be for the Judicial District of Danbury that covers Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, and Sherman. For a case that involves a party who resides in New Milford, the claim may be brought in either the Judicial District of Danbury or the Judicial District of Litchfield.
Some cases involving injuries may be brought in the Federal District Court where a case can be randomly assigned to a judge sitting in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, or Waterbury. Such cases involve either claims under federal statutes or diversity cases, where all of the parties on one side (Plaintiff) reside in different states than all of the parties on the other side (Defendants) and the amount in controversy is at least $75,000.
You may discuss with the personal injury lawyers at Casper & de Toledo where your case should be filed. There may be some very compelling tactical reasons to favor state court over the federal court or vice versa.
We know that injuries from a car accident or other event can be overwhelming; the personal injury attorneys at the Stamford, Connecticut office of Casper & de Toledo can help to make the legal process easy and understandable. Contact our personal injury lawyers for a consultation.
