Parties

The Parties tab is where you can easily store and manage all of the relevant contacts on a case. The parties you see on a case are associated with a contact from the firm’s Rolodex. When adding a new party to a case, the party will be added to the rolodex as well. If the contact is already listed in the firm’s Rolodex, then the contact will not need to be created again.

Adding a Party

  1. Navigate to the Parties tab of a case via Cases > Browse Cases > Case Name > Parties.

  2. Click the Add More button. From here, you will be taken to a new page from which you can search the Rolodex for existing contacts, or add new Parties to the case.

Adding an Existing Contact to the Parties list

  1. Search for the desired party by typing the party name in the Search/Filter bar at the top of the screen.

    Pro-Tip

    MerusCase filtering supports Boolean Search. View our Search and Filter Tricks for more details.

  2. Once you have found the appropriate contact or company in your Rolodex, hover over the entry for a list of options: Add, Add & Edit, and Add & Search Again. On a mobile device, you will tap the appropriate line item for these options to appear. Each of these options has a slightly different effect as outlined below.

    • Add: The contact will be added as a party on the case, and you will be returned to the Parties tab.
    • Add & Edit: The contact will be added as a party to the case, and the editing view for the contact will be opened. You can make revisions to the contact and click either Save to save the changes, Cancel to opt out of the changes, or Remove to opt out of the changes and remove the contact as a party on the case.
    • Add & Search Again: The party will be added to the case, and you will remain on the Add a Party page.

Adding a New Contact to your Parties List and the Rolodex

If the contact you are looking for is not available in the firm’s rolodex, it is very simple to create a new contact at the same time as adding the party to the case.

  1. In the Search/Filter Bar, enter the name of the contact or company you’d like to add to the Rolodex.

  2. Click on Add New Rolodex Entry. The Add New Rolodex Entry button appears only after text has been entered into the search bar, so this is an important step.

  3. If applicable, select an option from the Not what you were expecting? section of the page. Based on the text entered in the search bar, MerusCase will select either a company or a contact to be created. Contacts refer to individuals, whereas companies refer to business entities. The options available under Not what you were expecting? will allow you to switch back and forth between these two contact types.

    • I want to add an individual (contact), not a business entity (company): Choose this option when adding an individual (a person) to the Rolodex
    • I want to add a business entity (company), not an individual (contact): Choose this option when adding a Company to the Rolodex
    • I do not want to add a new rolodex entry. Take me back to search: This option will take you back to the Search Your Rolodex page
    • I don’t need to be here. Show me my parties again: This option will take you back to the parties list

  4. Fill in any relevant Contact/Company information. The Company Type or People Type that you select here will be the default People Type for the contact.

  5. Click Save. The new Contact/Company will appear in the parties list. Alternatively, you can click Cancel to opt out of creating the Contact/Company.

Editing a Party

Information associated with contacts can be edited from the party listed in the Parties tab of a case. Except for People Type and Party Notes, changes made to the contact will affect all cases on which this contact is a party. This means that a contact can have a different people type on different cases. This might be helpful when a doctor is a treating physician on one case, but a lien claimant on another. By setting different people types for each case, there is only a need for one Rolodex entry for that doctor. Additionally, the Party Notes section can be used to store information relevant to one party on one case without affecting all of the cases on which that contact is a party.

To make edits to a party:

  1. Navigate to the Parties tab of a case.

  2. Click on the party you want to edit. This will open the Contact Details for the contact in the right panel.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. Add or update any contact information using the fields available for the contact.

  5. Click Save.

Note

If you edit the People Type on a party to be included as the primary party (or one of them) or edit a current party's people type so that they are no longer a primary party, note that the Case Name will automatically be updated to reflect this change. For instance, if your case's plaintiff is Joe Smith, who is suing Corporation Inc, changing Joe's people type to something else and changing Adam Baker's people type to the plaintiff will automatically change your case name from "Smith, Joe v. Corporation Inc" to "Baker, Adam v. Corporation Inc."

In addition, you can manually edit the case name as well as the file number and case comments.

Detaching a Party from a Case

Parties can be removed from a case in multiple ways either individually or in bulk. Both methods can be utilized from within a case. Additionally, parties can be unlinked from cases in bulk from within the Contacts section of MerusCase. For additional information.

Detaching a Single Party from a Case

  1. From within a case, click on the Parties tab.

  2. Click on the contact you want to remove. This will open the Contact Details for the contact in the right-panel. On a mobile device, the Contact Details will occupy the full screen.

  3. Click Remove.

  4. Either click Yes, remove it to confirm the removal, or No, never mind to cancel the removal.

Note

When you detach a party from a case, the contact will remain in the Rolodex.

Detaching a Party from Many Cases in Bulk

  1. Click on the contact you want to remove from cases in bulk. This will open the Contact Details for the contact in the right-panel. On a mobile device, the Contact Details will occupy the full screen.

  2. Click on the Cases tab of the contact.

  3. Click on the control column found to the left of the case name.

  4. Select Remove (as a Party) from Case.

Note

If you are attempting to a delete a contact from the Rolodex, you will need to unlink the contact from all cases. If the contact is a primary party (e.g. plaintiff) on a case, then the contact can only be deleted once the corresponding case is deleted. In these situations, the Unlink Icon option in the control column will be greyed out and unavailable.

Featuring a Party on Case Details

To feature a party on the Case Details tab, simply follow the below instructions.

  1. Navigate to the Parties tab of a case.

  2. Click on the party you wish to feature on Case Details. This will open the Contact Card for the party in the right panel.

  3. Click Show in Case Details near the bottom of the party’s contact card. It will now be the featured party on the Case Details tab.

Hiding Parties

An alternative to removing a party from a case is hiding a party. You can hide a party instead of removing them if you want to maintain a history of participants on a case! This allows you to maintain your case’s participant history while still keeping your parties list accurate.

To Hide a Party

  1. Navigate to the Parties tab of a case.

  2. Click on the party you want to hide. This will open the Contact Card for the contact in the right panel.

  3. Click Hide this Party.

  4. Click the Parties tab again or refresh the window. In the lower-left hand corner of the Parties tab, the total number of hidden parties will be increased by one, showing “[#] Parties are Hidden.” Any hidden parties will now disappear from the parties list.

  5. If you want to show the hidden parties, click Show in the lower left hand corner to view the hidden parties on the case. When opening the Parties tab on a case, the hidden parties will not be displayed unless you click Show to view them.

  6. Click Hide in the lower left-hand corner of the parties list in order to hide these parties again.

Note

The applicant or plaintiff on a case cannot be hidden from the Parties tab.

Unhide a Party

You can unhide parties from the parties list anytime you want. To unhide a party:

  1. Navigate to the Parties tab in your case.

  2. Click Show to view the hidden parties in this case.

  3. Click on the party you wish to unhide. This will open the Contact Details for the contact in the right panel.

  4. Click on the Unhide this Party button found in the Contact Details section of the case.

Sorting the Parties Tab

For some cases, long lists of parties can become unruly and difficult to sift through. Two features in MerusCase, Party Groups and Linked Parties, make these parties easier to manage and classify. Party Groups are available for all case types (apart from Workers’ Compensation), and can be used to group contacts based on administrator-set groupings.

Parties can be associated with several party groups on an individual basis, allowing users to classify individuals and companies into custom categories within the Parties tab! Ultimately, this simplifies the process of finding medical providers, attorneys, witnesses and any other type of case player.

Add a New Party Group

Note

Only Firm Administrators can add new party groups.

  1. Click on the Tools & Settings icon in the upper right-hand part of your screen displayed as a gear.

  2. Click Firm Display Options

  3. In the column on the left, click Party Groups.

  4. Click the New Party Group button.

  5. In the New Party Group panel on the right, enter a Party Group Name, Order (party groups with a lower order appear at the top of the list), and Color.

  6. Click Save at the top.

Assigning a Party to Party Groups

To utilize party groups, you can jump into the Parties tab of a case and assign a party to categories of your choice at the bottom of each individual’s Party Card.

  1. Navigate to the Parties tab of a case.

  2. Click on the party of interest. This will open the Contact Details for the contact in the right panel.

  3. Click the Edit button in the upper right corner.

  4. Scroll to the Party Groups section at the bottom of the card. Use the check-boxes to select one or multiple groups in which the party should be included.

  5. Once all appropriate groups have been assigned scroll to the top of the selected contact card and click Save. The various colors on the left-hand side of the contact cards will update to include the corresponding party groups. You can hover over the colored bars to see which party groups are associated with that party.

Once you’ve assigned your Party Groups, you will then be able to click on a party group to sort the list when you’re viewing the Parties tab. Only Party Groups used on the case will appear at the top of the parties list.

Note

If a party is not assigned a group they will appear with the default theme color.

Linked Parties

Linked Parties in Workers’ Compensation Cases function similarly to Party Groups. The colored bars on the left side of the contacts are associated with the Court Case numbers of the injuries on that case. You can hover over the colored bars to see which party groups are associated with that party. The parties linked to each injury can be edited from the Injuries tab of Workers’ Compensation Cases.