Tip #253 - How To Enter Complaint/Petition Filing Information

Once the decision has been made that a matter will be put into litigation, you will need to enter the Complaint/Petition filing information in SmartAdvocate. The filing information must be entered on the Critical Deadlines Page.[1]

Here’s How:

Open the Critical Deadlines Page from the left menu. At the top of the page, you will see the Statute of Limitations section. If there are multiple defendants in the case, there will be a row for each defendant.

Click on the defendant’s row for the defendant you want to work with.
Either click the ‘action’ icon on the far right or ‘right-click’ on an empty spot on the row and click the ‘edit’ option

The ‘Edit SOL’ page will open. The top left section of the page will normally be filled in with the Defendant’s Name, SOL Type, The ‘From Date’ (typically the Incident Date) and the SOL deadline.

Enter the Date of Filing of the Complaint and the Date Complied (Date Complied will generally be the same date as filing). After entering the filing date, you can click the blue ‘up’ arrow to populate the Complied Date.[2] After you enter the filing date, the ‘Last Date to Serve S&C’ will auto-populate with the deadline to serve the complaint on the defendant.[3]

Remember to save you entries by clicking the ‘Save’ button in the bottom-right corner of the page.

Repeat the above steps for any other defendants as appropriate.

[1] When properly set up, the SOL (Statute of Limitations) deadline will automatically be populated for your case type once the matter is entered in SmartAdvocate (either through Intake Wizard or through an integration).

[2] There are a few jurisdictions that commence an action by service on the defendant(s) first before the complaint is filed. For those, you would enter the date of service first before entering the filing date and work backwards.

[3] S&C refers to the Summons and Complaint. In many jurisdictions this would simply be the Complaint or the Petition. The deadline to serve defendant with the complaint is configurable based on the jurisdiction. Configuration for this deadline is done in Picklist Maintenance under the “States” section.