A Summary of Court Procedures

In a typical set of procedures for civil cases, the court action begins with the filing by the plaintiff of a complaint, tn which legal allegations are made against the defendant. The next step is the notification of the defendant, which is called serving process. The defendant may then file an answer to the complaint. This answer offers defenses to the complaint, and it may also make counterclaims against the plaintiff - in effect, making the plaintiff a defendant as well. The complaint and the answer are called the pleadings.

A series of pretrial procedures, which are designed to pepare the case for trial, follows the pleadings. In discovery, the parties gather evidence from each other, primarily in three forms. The first is depositions, in which the lawyer for one side questions the other party and the witnesses for the other side. The second is interrogatories, in which one party presents questions to the other party for more extensive written responses. The third is the discovery of documents and other materials held by the other party. The judge does not supervise discovery directly but settles any disputes that may arise at this stage.

Discovery is intended to eliminate the surprise element at trial, but in the process it has developed its own problems. Among them are efforts by parties to wear down their opponents through extensive and costly discovery demands, abusive questioning of witnesses at depositions "that can only be compared with a medieval inquisition", and attempts "to overwhelm the opposition by overproducing documents".

After discovery is completed, the judge may schedule a pretrial conference with the parties; in some courts, the conference is mandatory. During the conference, the judge seeks to clarify the issues in the case and ready it for trial. Afterwards, the judge makes up a pretrial order listing the evidence that the parties will present.

Like criminal cases, civil cases can drop out along the way to trial. In some categories, such as personal injuries, the overwhelming majority do drop out. The plaintiff can dismiss the case voluntarily, either because of a decision that it is not worth pursuing or because the parties have reached a settlement out of court. For the same reasons that they welcome plea-bargains in criminal cases, judges generally encourage such settlements; indeed, they often use the pretrial conference to move the parties toward an agreement.

Less often, the judge reaches a decision in the case before it comes to trial. The judge may dismiss the case because of the failure of the plaintiff to prosecute it adequately. Similarly, the judge may issue a default judgment against the defendant for failure to file an answer or to meet other procedural requirements. Either party may also ask for a judgment on the basis of the pleadings, which the judge can grant if the other party has failed to make sufficient allegations to support a case. And the judge can grant a summary judgment to one party on the ground that there are no genuine issues of fact and that the law compels a decision in favor of that party.

The trial itself looks similar to a criminal trial. As it proceeds, the plaintiff seeks to prove the defendant's liability and the appropriateness of the desired remedy. In response, the defendant may contest either or both issues; on the remedy, the question usually is the amount of money to be paid in damages if liability is found.

The standard of proof for liability generally is a preponderance of the evidence, a standard that is easier to meet than the proof beyond a reasonable doubt required of criminal prosecutors.

During a jury trial, the judge may grant a directed verdict in favor of one party at the close of the other party's case, on the ground that the evidence allows only one outcome. If there was no directed verdict, the judge or jury decides the conteste dissues after the trial. In addition, where damages or restitution is to be provided, a determination is made as to the amount.

After a jury decision, the losing party can ask the judge for what is called a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, on the ground that there was insufficient basis for the jury's decision. The judge can also be asked to set aside the verdict and order a new trial on the basis of problems in either the trial or the verdict,

If the court's judgment requires one party to provide a remedy to the other, the party may comply readily with the judgment. But if voluntary compliance does not occur, the winning party can seek enforcement of the judgment by the sheriff or other officials through a variety of methods, including garnishment (in which the employer withholds part of the losing party's wages and turns it over to the winning party) and the forced sale of the loser's property to pay the judgment.

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