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Posts Tagged ‘Civil Litigation’

Civil Litigation Lawyer and the Civil Law

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

Civil litigation law is the field of law that resolves cases brought to the court by anyone. On the other hand, criminal law is the area that judges cases involving the State versus Individuals.

A lawyer who deals with disputes between individuals is called civil litigation lawyer. Laws that defend the interests of the society and the common people are called litigation laws. If you are dealing with legal issues and are considering filing a lawsuit, you should seek a civil Business lawyer.

A civil litigation lawyer is a legal advisor who resolves public or private legal matters through trials in the court. Litigation includes all the legal matters related with the trial process, including arguments, debates or controversy between two or more parties. The process of litigation consists of filing a lawsuit, discovery and motion practices, trials, judgments and awards. These processes can take months or years to be completed. An experienced civil litigation lawyer will defend your case and help you to resolve your issue as fast as possible.

Litigation lawyers are professional civil attorneys with knowledge and experience to deal with any kind of civil and criminal cases. An experienced civil litigation lawyer will prepared for the trial in court even if both the parties try to settle the dispute through negotiation. Many cases are resolved outside the court – during negotiation – to avoid spending extra time and money.

There are many different cases that are considered litigation. It is a criminal litigation case when an individual breaks the state law or commits crimes against society. For the interests of the society the local, state, or federal government takes action against the offender. A litigator as a government representative represents the government and the offender is represented by a private criminal lawyer, a prosecutor or a public defender appointed by the state.

Most of the states in United States have categorized crime into two categories: Misdemeanors and Felonies. Misdemeanors are lesser offenses and result in less severe sentences. Felonies are serious offenses which typically result in more than a year in jail or a heavy amount of fines.

The Stages of Civil Litigation

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

As We knew that Civil litigation is a lawsuit whereby a party seeks damages against another party. The damages can come in the form of money or the modification of some type of conduct. For instance, one can sure for breach of contract if another party fails to live up to the terms of a written agreement. One can also sue for a restraining order to bar a competitor from using various business property such as intellectual property rights. Importantly, civil litigation is not a criminal matter, to wit, the party that loses the case does not go to jail.

The first stage of civil litigation is the pleading stage. The pleading stage simply refers to the filing of the complaint against the party that is the defendant. The defendant then has the right to contest certain elements of that complaint. The defendant can object on the grounds that the complaint does not state a cause of action against them or frivolous matters are included in the language of the complaint, to name a few arguments. At this point, the court will either find a complaint to be with or without merit. If the Court throws out the plaintiff’s complaint, the plaintiff is usually allowed to amend the language and refile it.

The second stage of civil litigation is discovery. Discovery is simply the process of learning what evidence each side has regarding the dispute. Typically a party can ask to see any supporting documents the other side has and ask them questions. Questions can be asked in written form through a legal document known as interrogatories. Questions can also be asked orally by the party’s legal counsel in a process known as a deposition. Other methods of discovery also include request for admissions, special interrogatories and various other methods specific to your state. Yep, all the rules are set forth by state in most cases.

Once discovery comes to a close, the defendant will often file something known as a motion for summary judgment. A summary judgment motion is simply an argument by the defendant that the evidence provided by the plaintiff in the case does not support a claim against the defendant. In moving for summary judgment, the court considers the law on the books and the evidence provided by the plaintiff. It views the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff before making the decision. If the court finds in favor of the defendant, the lawsuit is over. At this point, the plaintiff can either abandon the lawsuit or file an appeal to have a higher court review the matter.

Assuming the plaintiff survives a motion for summary judgment, the next technical step of a lawsuit is to actually go to trial. Before that happens, however, the parties are usually sent to an arbitration hearing in which a mediator tries to cut a deal between the parties. This process is also known as a settlement conference. If they settlement cannot be reached, the court will then set the matter for trial and off you go.

At the end of the day, the average civil lawsuit will take a while to get from filing of the complaint to trial. The exact time is dependent upon the state you live in and how busy the courts are. Criminal matters tend to take precedent over civil matters, so you can often be waiting awhile. In fact, it can often take a year or more before a civil matter goes to trial.