Chapter 1 & 2 - ACC 747

Federal Law

Constitutional Provisions,

Statutory Law, Agency Regulation

State Law

Constitutional Provisions,

Statutory Law, Common Law, Agency

Regulation

Local/Municipal Law

Local Ordinances

Civil

• Private Plaintiff vs. Private Defendant

• Enforcement of private rights

• Seeking remedy to make the plaintiff whole

• Burden of proof: Preponderance of the evidence

Criminal

• Government/State prosecutes what is defined as prohibited actions

• State vs. Defendant

• Criminal penalty at stake instead of private remedy

• Burden of proof: Beyond a reasonable doubt

Remedy

A remedy is what a plaintiff is seeking to make him/her whole again after having been “damaged” by the defendant.

Legal Remedy/Remedy at Law

Money damages as a solution to make the plaintiff whole.

Equitable Remedy

Where money is inadequate to solve the dispute between the plaintiff and defendant and will not make the plaintiff whole again, the plaintiff can seek to have the Court order the defendant to “do” or “stop doing” some action.

Stare Decisis

is the practice of using prior precedents developed in former, factually similar cases to decide current cases.

Statutory Interpretation

• When a Court applies statutory provisions to decide a case, there are a number of

different approaches as to how those legal principles are to be interpreted:

• Plain Meaning (The court looks at the ordinary meaning of the words in the statute. If the language is clear, the court generally applies it as written.)

• Legislative History & Legislative Purpose (The court looks at why the legislature created the law and the history behind its passage, such as committee reports or discussions.)

• General Public Purpose (The court considers the broader public policy or societal goal the law is intended to promote.)

• Prior Interpretations (The court looks at how courts have interpreted the same or similar statute in previous cases (precedent).)

• Other Jurisdictions (The court looks at how courts in other states or countries have interpreted similar laws when its own jurisdiction doesn't have a clear answer.)

Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

specialized courts that only hear and rule upon specific types of cases

Example: Traffic Court

Courts of General Jurisdiction

general “trial” courts that hear cases that do not fall into a specialized category of Limited Jurisdiction. Commonly called Superior Courts.

Appellate Courts

Courts that sit above all trial courts to address alleged errors of law made at the trial court level. Corrections to legal errors are made and the case sent back to the trial level to act in conformity with the appellate court’s ruling.

Standing

Plaintiff must demonstrate that she has “standing” to bring a lawsuit before a court.

Standing requires that the plaintiff have an actual stake in the outcome and that the plaintiff have suffered some kind of harm due to the actions of the defendant

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

The Court’s ability to hear the kind of case before it and their ability to render an enforceable ruling. The Plaintiff must bring the case to the appropriate court in order to be heard.

Personal Jurisdiction

Plaintiff must demonstrate that the Court where the suit is filed has the jurisdiction over the defendant in the case and has the ability to render a judgment against that defendant. 2 possible methods in state court: 1) Defendant is a resident of the same state as the Court, or 2) Defendant has had “minimum contacts” with the host state, and the host state has a Long-Arm Statute in effect.

In Rem Jurisdiction

In some cases the Court maintains jurisdiction over the “thing” in the lawsuit, regardless of personal jurisdiction over the defendant. Most common example is real estate located within the bounds of the host state.

Two methods of establishing jurisdiction to allow your case to be heard in US District Court:

1) Federal Question Jurisdiction: The case is based in federal law or involves a dispute over Federal Legal issues, OR

2) Diversity Jurisdiction: Case involves state law, the plaintiff and defendant are from two separate states, and the amount in dispute exceeds $75,000.00

Federal Question Jurisdiction

The case is based in federal law or involves a dispute over Federal Legal issues

Diversity Jurisdiction

Case involves state law, the plaintiff and defendant are from two separate states, and the amount in dispute exceeds $75,000.00

Federal District Courts

General trial courts in the federal system.

Specialized Limited-Jurisdiction Federal Courts

(Tax, Bankruptcy, etc.).

Federal Circuit Court of Appeals

13 regional appeals courts to hear appeals from the Federal District Courts. Also called Federal Appeals Courts

U.S. Supreme Court

Single appeals court to be the final decision maker of all federal court cases. DOES also have original jurisdiction as a trial court in some special matters (i.e. civil suits where one state sues another state)

Civil Procedure

Summons & Complaint filed by plaintiff – State with specificity factual and legal grounds for relief, allege standing and appropriate jurisdiction.

Service of the summons & complaint by an appropriate process server. (Sheriff, constable, private process server – depends on the state law)

Answer – filed by defendant to respond to each allegation contained within the plaintiff’s complaint

Affirmative defenses – filed by the defendant to allege legal reasons that the lawsuit should cease to exist (i.e. statute of limitations has expired for the case). Must be plead within 30 days or the ability to raise the defenses is lost.

Counterclaim – if the defendant has claims against the plaintiff, they can be raised in the same lawsuit by filing a counterclaim.

Cross-claims – Where there may be multiple members of one party and claims are made against the same category of party (multiple plaintiffs making claims against other plaintiffs or multiple defendants making claims against other defendants)

Motion to Dismiss

if the plaintiff’s complaint is factually or legally lacking in substance, the defendant may seek to dismiss the complaint.

Discovery

act of gathering the facts and evidence that the other party will use at trial.

Depositions

sworn oral testimony of any witness

Interrogatories

sworn answers to written questions exchanged between parties.

Request for Admissions

sworn answers to basic “admit/deny” questions exchanged between parties.

Request for Production of Documents and Things

request for tangible physical evidence intended to be used at trial.

Request for an Independent Medical Exam

where the veracity or severity of an injury is questioned or needs to be challenged

Motion for Summary Judgment

A motion that may be filed by either party in undisputed cases to avoid an unnecessary trial. Two elements must be shown to be successful in a motion for summary judgment:

1) There are no disputed material facts between the parties

2) The moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law

Motions in Limine

parties seek to limit or prevent certain items of evidence from being presented to the jury

ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution)

pre-trial methods of resolving the dispute between the parties to avoid trial

• Settlement (The parties agree to resolve the dispute themselves, often with one party paying money to the other.)

• Mediation (A neutral third party (mediator) helps the parties communicate and reach an agreement. The mediator does not make the final decision.)

• Early Neutral Evaluation (A neutral expert evaluates the dispute and provides feedback about the strengths and weaknesses of each side's case.)

• Arbitration (waive your right to trial; a neutral person makes the final decision)

• Mock Trial (The parties conduct a practice version of a trial to see how their case might perform before a judge or jury.)

Trial Procedure

• Voir Dire – jury selection. Gain knowledge of jurors through written questionnaires or oral questions in person. Limit jury inclusion through use of challenges:

1) Challenges for cause (unlimited)

2) Preemptory challenges (5 per party)

• Opening Statements by parties (no arguments, persuasive statements allowed)

• Direct examination of plaintiff’s witnesses by plaintiff, cross-examination by defendant.

(Plaintiff’s “case in chief”)

• Plaintiff Rests

• Directed Verdict Motion by Defendant – allege that no reasonable jury could rule in favor of the plaintiff as they did not meet their burden of proof in their case in chief.

• Direct examination of defendant’s witnesses by the defendant, cross-

examination by the plaintiff. (Defendant’s case-in-chief)

• Defendant rests

• Closing Arguments – statements & persuasive suggestions to the jury as

to HOW to rule on the case and WHY.

• Verdict

• Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict (JNOV) – motion made by the losing party asking the court to overturn the jury verdict, alleging that no reasonable jury could have come up with the verdict that this jury did.

Appeal

filing an appeal with the appropriate appellate court alleging that there were legal errors made at the trial court level that impacted the outcome.

Enforcement

post-decision efforts to collect on a verdict/jury award

• Attachment/Seizure (ex: attachment/seize their real estate property)

• Garnishment (a percentage of the defendant’s regular wage)

• Lien (no one can touch this except for the defendant, if they are going to pay the plaintiff)

• Execution (last step of the attachment/seziure where you take possession of the property or thing)