Legal Glossary
Previous PageIn an effort to assist you in understanding common legal terms you might hear, we compiled a list of words you might encounter during a civil action.
This glossary is only meant to assist you in understanding terms. It does not provide a full explanation of each term and is not meant to provide you with legal advice. For a full explanation of each term and how it effects your case, talk to your attorney.
Click on a letter to go directly to that section.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
- Action – to bring a lawsuit
- Actionable – when there are enough facts to bring a lawsuit
- Adjourn – the formal end of a meeting
- Admissible Evidence – evident that the trial judge considers useful for either the judge or the jury to know when determining the facts of the case
- Agent – a person authorized to act for another
- a.k.a. – “also known as”
- Allege – to claim that something is true
- Allegation – a statement that is claimed as fact in the complaint
- Amend – to change something
- Annuity – the short way of referring to an annuity policy which will pay specified sums of money for life or for a certain amount of time.
- Appeal – to ask a higher court to reverse a decision by a trial court
- Appear – to show up for court
- Approach the Bench – a lawyer’s request to go up to the judge during trial
- Approach the Witness – a lawyer’s request to go up to the witness to give him a document or other item during trial
- Arbitration – a mini-trial that may be required by court prior to trial or both sides may agree to it and the arbitrator’s decision rather than going to court.
- Arbitrator – typically an attorney or retired judge who runs an arbitration and who makes a decision on the case if both sides have agreed to obey his decision.
- Assumption of Risk – the law that says a person can not recover damages for an injury if he has voluntarily put himself at risk.
- Award – the money the court decides must be paid to a party in a lawsuit
B
- Bailiff – an officer of the court, often a deputy sheriff, who keeps order in the court and handles the jury.
- Bench – where the judge sits.
- Beneficiary – the person or entity that is to receive profits or assets from an estate, trust or insurance policy
- Brief – a written argument by an attorney that typically includes the facts of the case, specific laws, and an explanation of how those laws apply to this case.
- Burden of Proof – in a civil trial it is the plaintiff’s responsibility to show enough evidence, or a “preponderance of evidence,” to ensure that all the facts are presented and they are probably true in order to demonstrate that the defendant committed a wrongdoing
C
- Calendar – to set the date and time when a hearing or trial will be heard by a judge
- Caps – the result of “tort reform,” which limits the amount of money the plaintiff may get for his injuries. In California medical malpractice cases, there is a $250,000 cap for non-economic damages. Though the insurance industry is lobbying hard to implement “caps” in Arizona medical malpractice cases, so far it has not been successful.
- Careless – negligent.
- Cause of Action – the legal reasons for a lawsuit. In other words, if the doctor was negligent that could be cause for filing a lawsuit
- Challenge – in a jury trial each attorney may ask that a juror be excused or removed.
- Challenge for Cause – in a jury trial an attorney may ask that a juror be dismissed because he admits to being biased or has a conflict of interest
- Civil Law – the body of law that includes everything except criminal law: personal injury, business, employment, disability, probate, contract, and so on
- Class Action – a case brought by one or two people on behalf of all people in the same circumstances. For example, a class action lawsuit might be brought on behalf of all women with breast cancer who took a certain medication. They are very expensive cases to take to court and typically take many years to go through the legal system; however, they often force a company to change their actions so that everybody benefits.
- Clear and Convincing Evidence – evidence that proves how something happened by the “preponderance of evidence” that is required in civil cases.
- Client – a person or group that uses the services of a lawyer and whom the lawyer has agreed to represent them in their legal business.
- Closing Argument – the final speech made by the attorney. It usually includes all the facts and opinions as each side views the issue and typically the attorney will ask the jury to find in his client’s favor. In a civil suit, the plaintiff attorney goes first, then the defense attorney, and then the plaintiff attorney is given one last opportunity to speak to the jury.
- Co-defendant – when more than one person is being sued in a lawsuit.
- Comparative Negligence – a rule that determines how much of the fault that caused the injury or loss was due to the person who suffered the injury or loss. If a certain percentage of the fault was due to that person, the damages he is awarded is reduced by that same percentage. In other words, if you were found to be 50 percent at fault for your accident, your award by the court would be reduced by 50 percent.
- Compensatory Damages – money awarded by the court for actual injuries or economic loss the plaintiff suffered.
- Complainant – the person or company that brings a lawsuit.
- Complaint – the first document filed with the court that announces the lawsuit, the people and/or companies involved in the suit, and the facts as seen by the plaintiff.
- Confidential Settlement – when the two parties come to an agreement over how to settle a case, but in a confidential settlement it is agreed that all or part of the agreement cannot be revealed. If confidentiality is broken, the side that broke it is subject to legal action.
- Consequential Damages – damages claimed or awarded in a lawsuit which were caused by an action that could have been foreseen to have caused the injury.
- Conservator – someone appointed by the court to protect another person who is determined to be unable to handle his own financial and/or daily living affairs due to physical or mental limitations.
- Contingency Fee – payment for legal work that is only due and payable if the lawyer wins; however, if the case is not won and the attorney took the case “on contingency,” the client may still have to pay the attorney for the actual expenses he put out on the case, depending on the agreement made between the attorney and the client at the beginning of the case.
- Continuance – a delay to another date.
- Contract – an agreement between at least two people or entities that creates an obligation to do or not to do something.
- Corroborating Evidence – evidence that supports, strengthens or adds to the facts of the case.
- Costs – fees and other monies that the court demands for such things as filing cases, court reporter fees for depositions, transcriptions of testimony, copying fees, and so on. It usually does not include attorney fees.
- Counsel – lawyer
- Culpable – considered to be responsible enough for the negligence that occurred to be liable for the wrongdoing.
- Court Reporter – the person who writes down all the testimony in court or at a deposition.
- Cross Examination – the questioning of the other side’s witness.
D
- d.b.a. – “doing business as”
- Damages – the amount of money the plaintiff may be awarded in a lawsuit.
- Decision – a judgment or the findings of a court in respect to your lawsuit.
- Declaration – statement made in writing that is sworn to be the truth.
- Defendant – the party who is sued in a civil lawsuit.
- Defense – in a civil case, this is the party who is being sued and their attorney.
- Defense Attorney – the lawyer representing the person being sued in a civil lawsuit.
- Deliberate – to consider the facts and evidence.
- Denial – the defendant’s answer to the plaintiff’s complaint that the facts as the plaintiff has claimed them are not true.
- Dependent – a person being supported by another person, such as a child under the age of 18.
- Depose – to take statements and to ask questions under oath prior to trial.
- Deposition – the taking of statements under oath prior to trial.
- Direct Examination – the first questioning of a witness at trial or at a deposition by the lawyer whose witness he is.
- Discovery – the process by which the attorneys can demand all the documents, lists of witnesses, depositions, and other legal actions from each other prior to trial.
- Dismiss – the judge’s ruling that one or more causes of action in a plaintiff’s lawsuit may be thrown out and not brought up again. This can happen before, during or at the end of trial.
- Document – any paper with writing on it.
- Draw – to prepare (write) a document.
- Due Process of Law – all the rules, statutes, regulations of the court and the legal system, which were designed to make the system as fair as possible to plaintiffs and to defendants.
- Duty – a legal obligation, which if someone does not fulfill his duty, he may be held liable by the court. It is the plaintiff’s duty to prove if someone or a company had a duty to ensure that a wrongdoing did not occur.
E
- Elder Abuse – one or numerous acts against an older person who has reason to trust the person who is harming them either financially, physically, mentally or sexually. It also includes neglect, in which the older person is deprived of or not cared for adequately.
- ERISA – Employment Retirement Income Security Act, passed in 1974, which says that certain (and most), managed-care companies cannot be sued by their patients.
- et al. – “and others”
- Evidence – the testimony, documentation and everything used in trial to convince the judge and/or the jury what the facts of the case are.
- Examination – the questioning of a witness at trial or in a deposition by an attorney.
- Expert Testimony – the opinions given under oath of someone who is a specialist in some area that pertains to the lawsuit.
- Expert Witness – someone who specializes in a particular area that concerns the lawsuit. For instance, in a medical malpractice case, there may be one or more doctors who testify for the plaintiff or the defense.
F
- Fact – something that was said or that happened that must be proved at trial.
- Fraud – to misrepresent a fact in order to deceive somebody.
- Foreseeability – what a person should have expected to happen from his actions.
- Foreseeable Risk – a danger a reasonable person should have expected to happen from his actions.
G
- General Counsel – the top attorney who works for a corporation.
- General Damages – the money won in a lawsuit for injuries for which no specific dollar value can be calculated.
- Gross Negligence – carelessness that is so reckless that it almost consciously ignores the possibility of hurting or killing someone else.
H
- Hearing – any business before a judge and without a jury.
- Hearsay – secondhand evidence in which someone told someone something.
- HIPPA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law that provides national standards to protect the privacy of your personal health information.
- Hung Jury – a jury that can’t decide upon a verdict.
I
- Immaterial – a common objection that means that the question or evidence has nothing to do with the case before the court.
- Impeach – to discredit a witness’s testimony by proving he is not telling the truth or his testimony is inconsistent with other sworn statements he has made.
- Implied Consent – circumstances that would allow a reasonable person to believe the other person had consented to an action, even though they did not specifically agree to it.
- Inadmissible – evidence that cannot be included or presented because it doesn’t fit into the rules of evidence.
- In Chambers – a discussion in the judge’s office.
- Informed Consent – giving your agreement for something once you know all the facts.
- Injury – any harm done to somebody physically, mentally, to his reputation or to his legal rights, either on purpose or because of negligence, makes the wrongdoer responsible for the damages caused.
- Insurance – a contract between you and an insurance company in which it is agreed that for the fee you pay the company will pay all or part of your costs or needs in certain situations.
- Interrogatories – part of the pre-trial process in which written questions are given to the other side in the case and which must be answered in writing and under oath within a certain time period, such as 30 days. Usually your attorney will assist you in answering the questions.
- Irrelevant – a frequent objection an attorney may use during a trial that means the question being asked is not important to the case on trial.
- Irreparable Damage or Injury – where the damage is so great that no amount of money can ever fix the person or situation or they can never go back to the way they used to be.
J
- JD – short for juris doctorate, which means the individual has a law degree.
- Joint Liability – when two or more persons and/or companies are responsible for an action and therefore all can be named in the lawsuit.
- Judge – someone with the authority and responsibility to preside in court, try lawsuits and make legal rulings.
- Judgment – the final decision made by a court about a lawsuit.
- Juris Doctor – the degree law schools give to someone who has completed law school.
- Jurisdiction – the geographical area or the area of law within which a court may hear and decide lawsuits.
- Juror – a person on the jury.
- Jury – a group of citizens called by the court to hear evidence about a lawsuit and to determine the guilt or innocence of each side.
- Jury Box – the area in which the jury sits.
- Jury Panel – the list of people called for jury service from which a jury will be selected.
- Just Compensation – the fair and reasonable amount of money that awarded will attempt to compensate the plaintiff for his injuries and/or loss.
- Justice – fairness.
K
- JD – short for juris doctorate, which means the individual has a law degree.
- Joint Liability – when two or more persons and/or companies are responsible for an action and therefore all can be named in the lawsuit.
- Judge – someone with the authority and responsibility to preside in court, try lawsuits and make legal rulings.
- Judgment – the final decision made by a court about a lawsuit.
- Juris Doctor – the degree law schools give to someone who has completed law school.
- Jurisdiction – the geographical area or the area of law within which a court may hear and decide lawsuits.
- Juror – a person on the jury.
- Jury – a group of citizens called by the court to hear evidence about a lawsuit and to determine the guilt or innocence of each side.
- Jury Box – the area in which the jury sits.
- Jury Panel – the list of people called for jury service from which a jury will be selected.
- Just Compensation – the fair and reasonable amount of money that awarded will attempt to compensate the plaintiff for his injuries and/or loss.
- Justice – fairness.
L
- Lawsuit – legal action.
- Liability – responsibility for ones actions or inactions.
- Litigant – any party to a lawsuit.
- Litigation – a lawsuit.
M
- Medical Malpractice – when a medical professional does not meet the standards of professional competence as defined by his profession, and it causes provable harm or loss to another.
- Mediation – the process of bringing a third party into the discussion who attempts to bring both sides to agreement about the various issues of a case. It differs from arbitration in that the third party in an arbitration acts as a judge and doesn’t participate in the discussions.
- Mediator – a person who has no connection to the case and who is brought in by both sides in order to help both parties come to an agreement about how to settle a case so there does not need to be a trial.
- MICRA – Medical Injury Reform Act passed by the California legislature in 1975 that says how much ($250,000 is maximum), the wrongdoer is required to reimburse for your injuries or the loss of a loved one. It also regulates how much a plaintiff attorney may be paid for successfully arguing your case. Defense attorneys are typically paid by the hour and there is no limit as to how much a company can pay its defense attorney whether that attorney wins or loses the lawsuit. MICRA has been ruled unconstitutional in 26 states, but it remains law in California, benefiting insurance companies and medical businesses.
- Minor – someone under the legal age, usually 18.
- Motion – a formal request made to a judge.
N
- Negligence – failure to take care of someone or something that a reasonable person would have, or not doing something that a reasonable person would have done in the same circumstances. The result is an injury or loss.
- Next of Kin – the nearest blood relative of a person who died.
N
- Negligence – failure to take care of someone or something that a reasonable person would have, or not doing something that a reasonable person would have done in the same circumstances. The result is an injury or loss.
- Next of Kin – the nearest blood relative of a person who died.
O
- Objection – to ask the court not to allow a certain question by an attorney or the answer given by the witness.
- Opening Statement – the speech each attorney makes at the beginning of the trial in which they both claim what they will prove happened.
- Overrule – the judge’s decision not to allow the attorney’s objection, which means the other attorney can ask the question and/or the witness may answer it.
P
- Paralegal – person with legal skills who is not a lawyer but who works under a lawyer’s supervision assisting them. Also called a legal assistant.
- Peremptory Challenge – the right of either attorney to have a prospective juror dismissed for any reason.
- Perjury – a legal crime in which someone lies under oath.
- Permanent Disability – a physical and/or mental injury that will never permit someone from living the life he once lived.
- Personal Injury – in civil law it is where a person attempts to get money for an injury or loss he believes he has suffered because of the actions or non-actions of another person or company.
- Plaintiff – in a civil action, the person who sues.
- Plaintiff’s Attorney – the attorney who represents the person who is suing.
- Polling the Jury – where the judge asks each juror how he voted.
- Product Liability – the legal responsibility of companies and sellers for any damages or injuries caused by the defects in their goods.
- Punitive Damages – money awarded to the plaintiff to punish the defendant for his wrongdoing. This is in addition to money awarded for other damages, such as economic damages.
Q
R
- Rebuttal – evidence to contradict or to disprove what another witness has said.
- Reasonable Person – an imaginary person who represents everybody. So, for example, in a civil case it might be said that a reasonable person would expect his doctor to have a medical degree. It’s what the average person would expect of a person in a particular situation or of an experience.
- Recess – a break in the trial or proceedings.
- Reciprocal Discovery – the exchange of documents, lists of witnesses, and other information between the plaintiff and defense attorneys.
- Recover – money awarded in a lawsuit.
- Recoverable – the amount of money that a plaintiff may be eligible to receive from the defendant for his wrongdoing.
- Relevant– that there is some connection between two pieces of information as it relates to the evidence.
- Relief – all the possible ways the court can order the defendant to repay the plaintiff for the wrongdoing suffered.
- Retainer – the advance payment given to a lawyer for working on your case.
- Rules of Evidence – the legal rules that determine whether evidence can be introduced in court.
- Ruling – court decision on a case or legal action.
S
- Sealing of Records – trial records and actions that the judge orders “locked up” and not allowed to be looked at by anybody without permission from the court.
- Settlement– agreed upon terms, usually achieved by negotiation between the attorneys and with their clients’ approval, before a verdict is reached in a lawsuit. Sometimes this happens “on the courthouse steps,” meaning just before trial is to begin. A settlement can be reached any time before a verdict is reached by the judge or the jury. An attorney cannot settle a case without his client’s agreement.
- Sidebar – when attorneys speak to the judge off the record and away from the jury’s hearing. It is usually in the courtroom and at the bench.
- Special Damages – monies awarded in a lawsuit for the actual out-of-pocket expenses the wrongdoing has caused the plaintiff. Examples include medical bills, therapy bills, loss of wages and so on.
- Standard of Care – in medical terms it means a diagnostic or treatment plan or process a doctor or medical professional should follow to treat a patient, illness or situation.
- Standing – the right to bring a lawsuit. Only people with something to lose or who have been injured or suffered a loss have the right to bring a lawsuit.
- Status Conference – a meeting with the attorneys and a judge prior to trial to discuss the process of the case.
- Statute of Limitations – the maximum period of time in which you are allowed to file a lawsuit against someone or a company. The periods vary by state, by who you are suing, and for what you are suing. If you do not file within the time period allowed, you may never again bring a lawsuit against the person or the company for that wrongdoing.
- Strike – to remove something from the court records
- Structured Settlement – when the money, or a portion of the money, you are awarded either by a verdict or a settlement is invested in annuities and payments are made to you either monthly, yearly or a certain specified times in your life in the amounts that are agreed upon when the structured settlement is signed. Once the terms of a structured settlement are set, they can rarely be changed.
- Substitution of Attorney – a document saying that you are changing lawyers, usually signed by the former and “new” attorney and always filed with the court. Only the “new” attorney must agree.
- Suffering – includes the pain, hurt, loss, inconvenience or embarrassment, typically called “pain and damages,” suffered by someone due to the wrongdoing of another and which the plaintiff may be awarded money for general damages
- Summary Judgment – the court’s ruling that there are no factual issues or the facts are so one-sided that the complaint can be decided without a trial, typically using depositions, legal arguments, discovery, and other legal actions. The result of this process is often for the judge to throw out the case.
- Sustain – the judge’s decision that the attorney’s objection is approved.
T
- Testify – to answer questions under oath in a court of law
- Testimony – what is said under oath in the courtroom or during a deposition.
- Tort – from the French and meaning “wrong.” A civil wrong that has caused injury, either accidentally or on purpose, to somebody or something.
- Tort Reform – the words themselves mean to change civil law; however, this phrase has become a movement by Corporate America, and especially insurance companies, to convince the public that lawyers who sue businesses, hospitals, bad medical professionals because of wrongdoing are “greedy” and that Corporate America is being hurt by these lawsuits. The result is a group of laws that makes it more difficult for the injured party to get compensation for the wrongdoing of businesses.
- Transcript – the written record of all proceedings
U
V
- Verdict – the decision by the jury at the end of trial. For it to be final, the judge must accept the decision.
- Voir Dire – from the French, “to speak the truth.” The process of asking prospective jurors questions by which the judge and the attorneys will select the jury.
W
- Waive – to agree to give up a right, such as a jury trial
- Witness – a person who testifies under oath at a trial or deposition about what he saw, heard or understood.
- Wrongful Death – someone’s death due to the wrongful actions of someone or something else
X
Y
- Your Honor – the correct way to address the judge.