The American legal and judicial system 495person bringing the appeal and the respondent is on the other side of the case. In a
civil case, the plaintiff sues to determine who is right or wrong and to gain something
of value, such as monetary damages, the right to vote, or admission to a university.
For example, imagine that your neighbor accidentally backs his car into the fence
that divides your property, destroying a large section of it. The neighbor does not
have adequate insurance to cover the damages and refuses to pay for the repairs.
You do not want to pay the $1,000 deductible on your insurance policy, so you (the
plaintiff ) sue your neighbor (the defendant) to see whether your neighbor has to pay
for the repairs. In a criminal case, the plaintiff is the government and the prosecutor
attempts to prove the guilt of the defendant (the person accused of the crime).
Many, but not all, civil and criminal cases are heard before a jury that decides the
outcome in the case, which is called the verdict. Often cases get settled before they go
to trial (or even in the middle of the trial) in a process known as plea bargaining. In a
civil case, this would mean that the plaintiff and the defendant agree on a monetary
settlement and admission of guilt (or not; in some cases the defendant may agree to pay
a fine or damages but not to admit guilt). In a criminal case, the defendant may agree
to plead guilty in exchange for receiving a shorter sentence or being charged with a
lesser crime. More than 95 percent of federal felony cases that result in a conviction
are settled in this way.^13 Plea bargaining is an excellent example of how legal conflict
between two parties can be resolved through compromise.Differences between Civil and Criminal Cases There are important differences
between civil and criminal cases. One is the standard of proof that serves to
determine the outcome of the case. In civil cases, the jury has to determine whether
the “preponderance of evidence”—that is, a majority of the evidence—proves that the
plaintiff wins. In criminal cases, a much stiffer standard must be met: the defendant
must be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Another difference is where the burden of proof lies. In criminal cases, there is a
presumption of “innocent until proven guilty”—that is, the state must prove the guilt of
the defendant. However, in civil cases the burden of proof may be on either the plaintiff
or the defendant, depending on the law that governs the case. Even more complicated,
in civil cases the plaintiff may have to prove certain points and the defendant other
points. For example, in certain race-based voting rights cases plaintiffs would have
to prove that race was the predominant motivation for creating a black-majority
congressional district to support their complaint that their interests were not being
served in the district. If that point is demonstrated, then the burden of proof shifts to
the defendants to show that there was some “compelling state interest” to justify the
use of race as a predominant factor.
One type of civil suit is the class-action lawsuit, a case brought by a group of
individuals on behalf of themselves and others in similar circumstances. Their
target may be a corporation that produced hazardous or defective products or
that harmed a particular group through illegal behavior. For example, 1.5 million
current and former female Walmart employees sued the retailing giant for sex
discrimination in 2011, claiming that the store had paid women less than men for
the same work and had promoted fewer women than men.^14 Suits are often filed on
behalf of shareholders of companies that have lost value because of fraud committed
by corporate leaders. Cases like these are an important mechanism for providing
accountability and justice in our economic system. Federal regulators do not have
the ability to ensure the complete safety of food, drugs, and consumer products or
to continually monitor all potential business fraud. Therefore, consumers rely on
the legal system and class-action lawsuits to ensure that businesses act fairly and
produce safe products.class-action lawsuit
A case brought by a group of
individuals on behalf of themselves
and others in the general public who
are in similar circumstances.O. J. Simpson dons a pair of gloves
during testimony in his double-murder
trial in Los Angeles in June 1995. The
jury was not convinced of his guilt
“beyond a reasonable doubt” and thus
acquitted Simpson in this criminal trial.
However, a subsequent civil trial found
that a “preponderance of evidence”
was against him.plea bargaining
Negotiating an agreement between
a plaintiff and a defendant to settle
a case before it goes to trial or the
verdict is decided. In a civil case, this
usually involves an admission of
guilt and an agreement on monetary
damages; in a criminal case, this
often involves an admission of guilt
in return for a reduced charge or
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