Civil Procedure

Civil procedure refers to the process of one party suing another party. This process is also known as an action, a matter, a proceeding, a lawsuit, a suit or litigation.

The common law can be divided into two broad areas: 1. Private law, which involves a dispute between two parties such as a family matter. Lawyers and judges don’t use the term private law, however, they use the term civil law to refer to this broad term.

2. Public law, involves a dispute between one party and the government. Criminal, constitutional and administrative law fall under this broad term.

In a civil case, A sues B because B has caused harm to A. The word “harm” is broadly interpreted.

The purpose of civil law is to compensate the victim for a harm done to them through a court ordered sum of money called damages. Whereas, the purpose of a public matter, such as criminal law, is to send someone to prison.

A civil action starts when individuals disagree on a legal matter, such as the terms of a contract, the ownership of a piece of property, an injury or damage to property. For example, if a driver is injured because another driver blew through a red light, the injured person can sue the speeding driver. The person who sues is called the plaintiff. The person being sued is called the defendant. This example falls under Personal Injury law, the most common of all civil cases.

Civil cases also encompass landlord/tenant disputes, product liability, intellectual property, construction disputes, real estate disputes, and medical malpractice.

This is what you will learn if you are finding civil procedure one big question mark: The six stages of civil procedure explained in plain English:

1. Pleadings (formal documents required to start and respond to a lawsuit)
2. Examination for Discovery (an opportunity for each party in a dispute to discover important information for a case)
3. Mediation
4. Pre trial
5. Trial
6. Appeal

A civil action can be settled at any time during this process. Indeed, only about two per cent of civil disputes end up in court. Settlement is a way of avoiding going to court by one party agreeing to pay a sum of money. Civil rules of procedure is another key part of civil law.

If this brief explanation has been helpful, allow Mentor Law to guide you further. The process of suing someone is complicated, involves many steps and a lot of legalese. Mentor Law—as always—is here to advise you step by step.

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