Civil Law- the body of law that deals with the rights of private citizens.
The Plaintiff – the party that institutes a suit in court.
The Defendant- the person against whom an action is brought.
In a civil case, the plaintiff makes a complaint against the defendant alleging that the law has been violated or of a legal standard of care.
Subsequently, the defendant is served in a formal statement the “complaint” together with an order , or a subpoena, which is a legal writ requiring the defendant to appear in court to provide evidence. The defendant must then respond by filing an “answer” to the complaint or by lodging a “counterclaim” against the plaintiff. A “counterclaim” is a claim made in opposition to a claim made by another.
The federal, state or local government, depending on the specific case, can either be the defendant or the plaintiff in a civil case.
Prior to the trial, both the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s party, can openly explore the opposition’s evidence. This process is known as the “discovery”. Often, a deposition takes place where the lawyers involved question witnesses and parties to the suit, to give evidence under oath.
In nearly all civil cases, the judge will call the attorneys from both sides to deliberate on whether the case can be settled out of court. Therefore, saving each side from going to trial.
In most civil suits, The Seventh Amendment to the Constitution ensures that the parties involved are entitled to a trial by jury although both the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s parties can relinquish that right and have the hearing solely before the judge.
In certain circumstances a “bench trial” is used .Civil cases, such as family matters, like child custody and divorce, also probate matters pertaining to the legal provisions of a will, are the cases heard almost exclusively by a judge without a jury present. Involved parties often use the courts to issue injunctions in order to prevent or stop impending harm or damages. An injunction, a court order which prohibits a party from a certain course of action, would be given to a factory user to stop pollution. This would be heard by a judge without a jury present.
In a civil case the “burden of proof” is always lower than in a criminal trial, although the judge or jury always renders a verdict on the basis of the “preponderance of the evidence”…the power or importance of the evidence, instead of “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” as is the criminal standard.
“The burden of proof” must still rest with the plaintiff. However, almost all civil defendants present evidence, and the defendant has the option of simply arguing that the plaintiff did not meet what was required for “the burden of proof.”
The loser in a civil case, as in criminal cases, can appeal the decision to a higher court. This will not bring about a re examining of the case but will determine whether any errors in the law occurred.
A special kind of civil lawsuit is a class action law suit. This is where one or more parties bring a claim on behalf of a much larger group of people who are having the same problem or are in the same situation. Some examples would be where a manufacturer has allegedly been responsible for defective or hazardous products, such as in the tobacco industry, asbestos mines and pharmaceutical companies. A class action would be lodged against them and the lawyers would represent a group.
When a class action law suit is lodged, stockholders often complain as a class that the company had involved itself in illegal or deceptive practices and has damaged the value of their stock holdings.
Often the verdict in civil cases involves monetary damages, which are either compensatory , where the defendant reimburses the plaintiff for their losses from ,say an automobile accident which the defendant is responsible for ,.or punitive which require some form of punishment. Punitive damages, allowed only in certain types of cases, are monetary awards and are created to not only punish the defendant for their illegal behavior but also to deter the behavior in the future.
The defendant can ask the courts in civil cases to change or set aside the verdict on the grounds that it contradicts or is inconsistent with the law and the evidence given. The presiding judge will rarely agree, but does have the authority to set aside a verdict on the grounds that it is unreasonable, given the circumstances or the evidence of the case.
Court cases are often costly and time consuming with lawyer’s fees and other costs, so in order to avoid this, many people with civil cases resort to alternative means outside the formal legal process of the court room. This is know as “alternative dispute resolution”