The American civil justice system is vitally important to the running of the country and deals with a wide variety of different kinds of civil cases. A civil case is when a private citizen brings a case against either another person or a company, usually looking for a settlement after a wrong-doing. This is a brief guide to the different kinds of cases that can be bought to trial in the United States.
Contract Disputes
Contract disputes between employers and employees often find their way into the civil courts. Luckily, employment law is very clear, so cases do not usually drag out. However, some contract cases may blossom into civil rights cases if employers are found to have been subjecting employees to unfair contractual demands.
Personal Injury
The United States does not have a socialized healthcare system. Instead, it is down to the individual to make provisions for their own healthcare and to seek compensation when they are injured. Personal injury lawyers such as Horst Shewmaker in Georgia specialize in settling personal injury cases before they get to court. Most personal injury cases are settled without the need to go to court after both plaintiffs and defendants hire legal counsel. If they make it to court, lawyers will cross-examine witnesses to try and ascertain who was responsible for the plaintiff’s injury. AS well as paying for medical fees, personal injury compensation often pays for the time when a plaintiff is unable to attend their work due to injury or shock.
Property Disputes
Property ownership is, in theory, very straightforward. In reality, it is anything but. US civil courts are constantly engaged in the settling of property disputes. The United States is a country where property is instrumentally intertwined with the political system. Sorting out property disputes is, therefore, of paramount importance.
Class Action
If a person brings a case against an organization or individual, but that person is acting as the representative of a larger group of people, then it is known as a class-action case. The biggest class action settlement ever reached was in the master tobacco settlement of 1998.
Representatives of 46 states opened up a lawsuit against some of the biggest tobacco companies. They were accused of misleading and denying the detrimental effects of smoking – misleading consumers and costing states billions in care bills for ill smokers. The case was won, and the tobacco companies were ordered to pay a total of 206 billion dollars.
Family Cases
The arbitration of family disputes or the mediation of familial dissolution are two of the main functions of the civil courts. Family cases can take many forms. Custody cases involve the establishment of legal guardianship over a minor. Divorce cases settle the property division of a couple that is dissolving their legal marriage. Parental rights cases are convened to decide whether a parent or parents have the right to look after a child. Domestic violence cases decide the measures that should be put in place to protect the victims of violent partners. Family cases are essential in the mediation and arbitration of disagreements that might otherwise lead to harming a child or partner in a relationship.
