Overview

Civil cases are those that pertain to private individuals or businesses in contrast to criminal cases wherein the government is involved. It usually involves the infringement upon the rights of individuals.

Civil law covers laws that are not considered as criminal laws and are classified as either Tort law or Contract law. Civil cases do not usually involve sentences but mainly deal with litigation and financial compensation.

Some of the more common civil law cases are breach of contract, invasion of privacy, gross negligence, medical malpractice suits, for people in the medical community and wrongful death suits if there was a loss of life involved.

Details

In civil cases, the law suits are between private entities as opposed to criminal cases which are enforced by the government and a state or federal prosecutor pursues the case.

Also, civil cases can be won based on the balance of probabilities meaning the likelihood of a defendant’s guilt is in play unlike in criminal cases where a defendant needs to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Civil law cases are usually used in an attempt to right a wring doing, or to honor agreements between individuals or organizations or to settle a dispute between two parties.

If there is a victim involved, a civil case usually results in financial compensation that is paid for by the individual who was found guilty of a wrong doing like in cases of vehicular accidents.

Financial compensation for civil cases includes compensatory damages, in which the financial capability of the party paying the damages is a factor. There are also punitive damages, interest, in some cases and attorney’s fees.

An example of a civil case is the suit that was filed against OJ Simpson. Although he was not found guilty of murder, in a civil court, he was found to be responsible for the death of his wife, which led to the financial compensation of her family.

Help

Should you be involved in a civil suit as a defendant or would need to file a civil case, you would need an excellent civil attorney to represent you and your civil case and help you in your time of need.

A civil attorney can also help in non court related matters such as the creation of trusts and drawing of contracts, leases or titles. A civil attorney can also advise you of your obligations and legal rights regarding these matters.

If you have your own business, it would also be beneficial to seek a civil attorney to give you advise on litigation, which can help save you from having any legal issue down the road and also save you money.