Bringing legal matters to court are always complex and very draining. Some people have the belief that courts only see criminal law issues, however that is not the case. Civil litigation matters have a wide spectrum and matters can vary, from divorce cases to products liability. In some cases, the parties might opt to not take the matter to trial at all but to solve it via mediation or arbitration. It is important to know what the civil litigation process is like and how it can affect every individual case.
What is it?
Civil litigation is the legal process in which a civil issue brought to a court or any other binding or non-binding legal authority, where the parties look for a resolution to their problem. Many civil matters include family law, such as divorce or adoption, business law, such as the breaching of a contract, or even torts, such as slip and falls, negligence or products liability. In many cases, issues about professional responsibility are also addressed in civil litigation.
The process:
In most cases, a civil litigation begins when one of the disputing parties’ files a complaint against the other party. Unfortunately, the initial legal process can go on for months and months on end before the matter reaches a judge. Usually, the process involved a pretrial phase and a discovery phase where evidence must exchange evidence with each other. Sometimes, it has occurred that the matter is usually solved by the disputing parties way before the matter even reaches a courtroom. This is very normal and even advisable since it takes taking a matter to trial can be very costly and time consuming for everyone.
