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 Print this Page Civil Litigation - An OverviewNorthern California Civil Litigation InformationThankfully, most disputes are resolved without lawsuits, without courts and without attorneys. But when a dispute cannot be informally resolved, the result is often litigation. Generally speaking, "litigation" refers to "civil litigation," and usually involves filing and maintaining a lawsuit in State Court or Federal Court. Legal matters fall into two main categories: "civil" or "criminal." Civil matters are either "transactional" or "litigation." Transactional legal matters include estate planning, business dealings and consulting, contract negotiation and formation, and the like. One purpose of a transactional legal matter is to avoid litigation, or to put the client in a favorable position if litigation becomes necessary. In civil litigation, a plaintiff alleges that a defendant is liable for violating any number of civil statutes or "common law" rules. ("Common law" is law based upon legal precedents established by courts in prior lawsuits.) In civil litigation, liability against the defendant typically results in a judgment for money damages, and may sometimes include other forms of relief such as injunctive relief or declaratory relief. Punishment for particularly egregious conduct does not result in imprisonment, but possibly "punitive damages" or other "civil penalties." < Previous | Index | Forward >
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