Civil Litigation- Houston Law Firm
Civil litigation entails a dispute between two or more parties, whereby the affected party/parties seek money damages or specific performance instead of criminal sanctions. In simplified terms one could describe civil litigation as; a legal process whereby criminal charges and penalties are not an issue. Arbitration or mediation are the dispute resolutions procedures that affected parties may undergo in an attempt to settle their issues without spending time and resources going to court. If either of these processes fail however, the matter is presented before a judge or jury in a courtroom trial so that a definite conclusion is reached.
A lawyer that specializes in civil litigation is referred to as a litigator or trial lawyer. The litigator’s purpose entails representing their clients (either of the parties involved) across numerous associated proceedings that are held prior to and during the trial sessions. That includes; arbitrations, mediations, pretrial hearings and depositions held before the relevant administrative agencies, foreign tribunals or local, state and federal courts. Unlike the common television portrayals of civil litigation cases, there is a wider aspect of practice involved. That is why this article has taken the liberty to enlighten you on the different fundamental aspects of the civil litigation process courtesy of RunRex.
Types of Civil Litigation Cases
There is a broad range of disputes that form civil litigation cases, from which a professional litigator is expected to specialize in at least one or at most two of. The following include the common civil litigation areas;
- Landlord/tenant dispute; which may involve disputes arising from eviction, tenant rights, lease agreements, repair responsibilities among other landlord/tenant issues.
- Personal injury claim; which entails seeking compensation from a party responsible for your injury caused by an accident that was not your fault.
- Environmental law; whereby a person’s or organization’s misuse or mismanagement of natural resources becomes disputable based on any the network of treaties, statutes, regulations and customary laws that are around the environment.
- Intellectual property dispute; which involves the unauthorized use of a patented idea.
- Product liability lawsuit; which is a lawsuit that arises when injury or harm is caused to a consumer due to a defective product.
- Medical malpractice claim; a dispute that arises when a patient is harmed by a doctor or any other medical professionals due to negligence and/or incompetence in their duties.
- Real estate lawsuit; failure to perform in certain ways for real estate agents such as misleading the client, selling a defective property or breach of duty are factors that could lead to this kind of lawsuit.
- Employment and labor dispute; dispute that arises when the employee and the employer cannot agree on issues such as terms of employment, fringe benefits and hours of work for instance.
- Construction liability lawsuit; whereby disputes may arise from issues such as employees getting hurt and client property getting destroyed.
- Divorce lawsuit; which is the legal process of going through a divorce settlement.
- Educational dispute; disagreements that arise from the special education program that some students/ pupils require.
- Worker’s compensation claim; which involves compensation demanded when a worker is injured in the line of duty by an accident that is not their fault.
Role and Responsibilities of a Civil Litigation Lawyer
A trial lawyer in a civil litigation case is primarily expected to advocate for their client to get the best possible settlement deal from whichever side of the case they are in. They are therefore expected to be willing to assume oppositional positions and to be able to face controversy and conflict in the fight to get their clients the best possible outcome. Litigators tend to work long hours during civil litigation trials, the following are some of their day to day activities on the job;
- Interviewing their client(s) and conducting an initial investigation on the case.
- Conducting and defending depositions.
- Drafting of complaints, answers and counterclaims.
- Propose and respond to interrogatory and document requests.
- Participate in jury selection when required to.
- Define the overall trial strategy.
- Oversee settlement negotiations.
- Show up and argue civil litigation cases in local, state or federal court.
To effectively perform these functions on and off the courtroom litigators need to possess the following key skills;
- A strong command of the oral and written advocacy skills.
- Dependable analytic and logical reasoning abilities.
- Vast knowledge on substantive and procedural law.
- High interpersonal skills.
- Skills on client relations.
- Negotiation skills.
- Team worker.
- Ability to synthesize complex legal and actual materials.
- Adequate knowledge on software and legal research techniques.
The Process of a Civil Litigation Case
A civil litigation case is divided into stages which may or may not lead to a trial before a judge or jury. The stages include; investigation, pleading, discovery, pretrial hearing, potential settlement or trial hearing and probably appeal.
Out of all these stages most may not realize this due to the public impression created around civil litigation cases but discovery is the most labor intensive and longest stage of such cases. This stage entails the exchange of information relevant to the case through interrogatories, depositions and subpoenas, and plays a major role on whether a civil litigation case will proceed to court or not.
Conclusively, in the event that you are caught in the middle of a civil litigation matter, you will need competent legal representation in the form of a trial lawyer. Well, RunRex can provide that from its team of experienced attorneys specialized in handling a variety of complex civil litigation cases within the Houston Texas area.