Civil Litigation

Civil litigation is the type of legal action that arises when one party seeks legal remedies through the court system, including monetary damages or specific performance from another party through the legal system. Civil litigation differs from criminal litigation as there is no legal jeopardy due to criminal activity that is tried during civil litigation.

What is Civil Litigation?

When two or more parties or people are involved in a legal dispute with one another, and the desired outcome is monetary compensation or requiring specific performance, you need a civil litigation attorney.  As your attorney, we will represent you and work to ensure the best possible outcome in these cases.

Civil litigation generally consists of two or more parties – a plaintiff and a defendant. The plaintiff is the side that brings the action against the defendant, who must defend against the action. In most civil litigation cases, a plaintiff files a lawsuit and serves the opposing party with the legal filings using a process server or other legal means to effectuate service. Both sides can then engage in the discovery process, requesting documents from one another, conducting depositions, asking questions (in a pleading called interrogatories) from each side, and more. This is the fact-checking and evidence-gathering phase of the case. Civil lawsuits are often settled during or after discovery and before trial. These settlements can occur through agreements between the parties, mediation or arbitration, ADR (alternative dispute resolution), and other methods. If a settlement does not occur, cases then go to trial.

During civil litigation cases, both sides will often file various pleadings with the court, hire expert witnesses, work towards resolving questions of law related to the disputes, and more.

Some types of civil litigation include the following areas:

Contract Law

Contract law deals with cases where parties enter into a contract or agreement with one another, and one side believes that the other violated the terms of that agreement or contract. These cases can be between individuals, commercial entities, other types of institutional entities, or some combination of these. Not all contracts include written contracts, as courts have recognized implied contracts and oral contracts as valid depending on the circumstances.

Family Law

Civil cases include legal matters that have to deal with paternity, name changes, guardianships, child custody, divorce, or other areas concerning families and domestic issues.

Torts

Tort cases are civil cases where a claimant suffers loss or harm as a result of the actions of another. In tort cases, the harmed individual (the plaintiff) seeks monetary damages due to the harm that they have suffered. This area of law protects people injured due to negligence, recklessness, intentionally harmful acts, and other types of liability. Many personal injury cases, including medical malpractice cases and product liability cases, that are not settled before a lawsuit is filed, end up being filed as torts.

Specific Practice Areas

If you are involved in a dispute, whether it is with a neighbor, business associate, general contractor, or other matter, you need representation.  Contact the attorneys at Dross Berman LLC for a free consultation.  A few of the civil litigation matters that we are able to help with include:

  • Contract disputes
  • Neighbor issues
  • Issues with contractors
  • Defending you from being sued
  • Business disputes
  • Debt collection matters
  • Landlord/tenant issues
  • And more

If your civil legal issues fall into an area in which we do not specialize, we are happy to refer you to a different attorney or law firm.