The phrase “litigation” refers to the legal process through which one party, known as a plaintiff or complainant, seeks restitution for damages inflicted by another, known as a defendant. Litigation is any legal action in which two parties are in an antagonistic relationship. While any legal matter can be considered a sort of litigation, the two most common types are criminal litigation and civil litigation. Criminal litigation cases feature defendants who are accused of breaking the law. In civil litigation, a lawsuit is filed by one party against another with no accusation of a crime being committed.
In criminal trials, the complainant is frequently referred to as “the people,” and a district attorney or a US Attorney represents them in pursuing a remedy, which is usually incarceration or some other punishment, such as payment of a fine. Capital litigation cases are criminal litigation proceedings in which the death penalty may be applied.
In civil litigation situations, the plaintiff must have experienced some loss as a result of the defendant’s claimed actions. For example, suing a doctor for medical negligence is a type of civil litigation. It is also legal litigation if a person sues her neighbour for damages alleged as a result of the neighbor’s irresponsible snow removal. A product liability lawsuit is a type of civil litigation action in which a manufacturer is sued for damages caused by a defective product. Copyright litigation, which typically involves a claim of infringement of intellectual property rights; debt litigation, in which a creditor files suit against a debtor; and commercial litigation, which encompasses a wide range of issues such as breach of contract, employment disputes, and shareholder issues, to name a few.
In civil action, the plaintiff tries to collect the expense of correcting the alleged harm, as well as additional monetary damages known as “pain and suffering” or “punitive damages.” Either party may request a jury trial, or both parties may consent to a non-jury trial in which the judgement and, if required, an award are rendered by the judge. Each party will present their case in court, after which the verdict and, if the judgement is in favour of the plaintiff, an award will be issued. Because of the large quantities of money involved and the complexities of the law, both plaintiffs and defendants will frequently retain attorneys who specialise in that form of litigation. While all attorneys learn to litigate throughout their academic training, not all are particularly skilled at it, and many attorneys will practise law for their entire careers without ever arguing a case in front of a court and jury.
Class action lawsuit is an example of civil litigation worth mentioning. When a lot of plaintiffs argue that the same defendant has harmed them all in the same way, a class action can be filed. For example, if a number of owners of a specific make and model of automobile are all injured in accidents that can all be traced back to a manufacturing defect in the automobile, the attorneys may petition the judge to declare the plaintiffs a “class,” and commence legal action – in this case, a product liability lawsuit – on behalf of that class. Class action lawsuits can help the administration of justice in the United States by combining several similar or identical claims, each of which could take months or years to adjudicate on its own, into a single action, all of which will be determined as a single case.