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Civil Procedure. Artemus Ward Department of Political Science Northern Illinois University. Coping with Disputes. Coping with Disputes.
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Civil Procedure Artemus Ward Department of Political Science Northern Illinois University
Coping with Disputes • About 40% of all households had significant personal or financial grievances involving $1,000 or more during the previous 3 years. The number of people having smaller gripes is much larger. • Less than 25% of those surveyed hired lawyers and only 11% filed cases in court. However nearly 3/4 of those with major grievances contacted the person or organization they felt was responsible for their loss or problem, and nearly 70% got some settlement. • Of the 11% that become court cases, only 10% of those go all they way to trial. • So, of all serious civil disputes, only about 1% are settled through formal judicial decisions.
Alternatives to Going to Court • Individual Methods • Ignore it (take your lumps) and/or leave. • Negotiation: on your own or hire a lawyer • Violence: verbal abuse, vandalism, assault • Mediation - voluntary; not legally binding; neutral 3rd party; settlement must be acceptable to both sides. • Arbitration - more formal than mediation; legally binding; “people’s court;” usually voluntary though sometimes mandatory or “court-annexed;” cheaper than going to court
Deciding to go to Court • Obstacles: • procedures, official language, and special knowledge seem daunting to the lay person • court costs & lawyers - filing fees, attorney fees, witness fees, sending notices to opponents • emotional costs - litigation takes more time than informal methods of settling disputes; lawyers do not tell the honest truth but seek to challenge and tear down the opposition.
Typical Stages of the Processing of Civil Suits for Damages or Restitution
Why Use Courts? • Just to “let off steam” • Because “something serious is at stake” • Defendants have “nothing to lose” by not paying rent, bills, etc. until court says they must. • Some overestimate their chances of winning • Sometimes it’s the “last resort” - the only way left to deal with personal disputes or political conflicts.
Settling Cases Without Trial • There are several preliminary steps to a trial that help promote negotiation and settlement: • Complaints, Responses, and Motions • Depositions are part of “discovery” - gathering pretrial information. • Pretrial Conference - in front of judge just before trial starts
Negotiation in Common Civil Cases • Debt Collection - creditor files a complaint to garnish wages, debtor tries to work out a payment schedule. • Rent - landlords file complaints against tenants who don’t pay rent. When summons is issued by the sheriff, tenants either pay or move. • Insurance Claims - lawyers and adjusters know how much certain cases are worth.
Who Goes To Court? • Repeat Players - use the courts regularly as part of their business activity. • State courts - banks, hospitals, and other businesses, divisions of gvmt. (taxes due). • Federal courts - criminal defendants and prisoners appealing procedures and laws, the federal gvmt itself, corporations, states, businesses
Interest Groups in Court • Interest Groups use the courts as a way to achieve policy outcomes. • Test cases are used to challenge the constitutionality of a particular policy or private action. Ruling will have broad effects beyond the individual test case. • Interest groups organize, manage, and pay the costs for an individual litigant. • Class Action suits - plaintiff claims to represent the interests of many people who are in the same situation, though not named as a party to the case. This keeps the case from becoming “moot” if the plaintiffs situation changes (no longer pregnant, dies, etc.).
Interest Groups in Court • Taxpayer’s suits are similar to class action suits. Individuals claim to represent all taxpayers against state spending or particular administrative agencies. • Brandeis Brief - a legal argument stressing social and economic conditions and statistics relevant to the case rather than formal law and procedures. • Amicus Curiae Brief - a “friend of the court” brief where a group who is not a party to the suit provides an additional argument/information for the court. In Webster, 400 groups filed 78 amicus briefs!
Public Interest Law (PIL) • Groups acting in the “public interest” claim to represent large numbers of average citizens or even the entire population and go to court to obtain government policies that benefit the entire public.
Public Interest Law (PIL) • Legal Services programs are part of public interest law work. • In 1970, there were about 50 PIL firms & about as many PIL attorneys. By 1980, there were about 225 firms and nearly 1,000 PIL lawyers - and there are about that many today. • ACLU, NAACP/LDF, Natural Resources Defense Council, California Rural Legal Assistance
Conclusion • Going to court is usually the last thing people do to settle disputes. • Most civil cases concern money and business. • Most cases settle without trials. • Interest groups use courts to make political, social, and economic demands on others and to influence broad government policies that affect many people.
