| Chapter
9
Covering
Civil Courts
By Maurice
Possley
Introduction
Like the criminal justice system, most civil cases are not newsworthy,
but civil litigation historically has played a significant role
in the evolution of society and our laws.
Some of the most important cases in U.S. history have been civil
lawsuits that, for example, have desegregated schools (Brown
v. Board of Education) and legalized abortion (Roe v.
Wade). Other civil cases have defined and interpreted First
Amendment/free speech, affirmative action, and prayer in the school.
The government is one of the most frequent and powerful plaintiffs
in the civil justice system.
For example, state attorney general lawsuits against the tobacco
industry and price-fixing lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry
have had a direct impact on millions of people.
For many court reporters, the civil court is the stepchild of
the criminal courts. Unlike criminal cases, most of which carry
possible prison sentences and involve a crime against the public,
the cases that wind their way through the civil branch of the court
system are the result of mostly private disputes between parties
that have not been resolved by out-of-court negotiations. Many
of these cases are of little news interest because these disputes
involve no significant legal issues or center around disagreements
of a highly specific and esoteric nature between little-known parties.
Many are what are called “tort” cases—those involving
individuals who have been injured and are seeking compensation.
While there are thousands upon thousands of civil cases filed yearly,
typically, only a small percentage rise to the level of being newsworthy.
From Personal Injuries To Patents
But the civil court arena is a most fascinating place to find news. Here, members
of society seek justice on their own. It is in civil court that parties may
seek damages for such actions as breach of contract, personal injuries, civil
rights violations, illegal job dismissals, and wrongful deaths. In civil
court, individuals, corporations and public bodies may seek enforcement of
laws, interpretation of laws, or declarations that laws are unconstitutional.
Companies seek protection of trade secrets and patents, enforcement of contract
provisions, or businesses may attempt to block competitors from taking them
over.
The disputes can range from an action demanding payment of medical
bills from a dog bite to an anti-trust case against a corporate
giant. Civil courts routinely address matters ranging from fender
bender auto accidents to securities fraud. Lawsuits are filed alleging
medical and legal malpractice, defamation and libel, child custody
and failure to pay bills.
It is by following cases in the civil courts that we learn of
Stella Liebeck, whose lawyers persuaded a jury in Albuquerque,
N.M., to award her $2.9 million in 1994 after she spilled a cup
of coffee from a McDonald’s restaurant on her lap. (The judgment
was later reduced to $640,000 and the case was later settled for
an undisclosed amount while on appeal. As an aside, in 2004, Olga
Kuznetsova sued a McDonald’s in Moscow for 100,000 rubles--about
$3,500--alleging a similar coffee spill.) But for journalists,
the Stella Liebeck case is a cautionary tale. While some tort reform
advocates have used the case as an example of runaway juries, there
are others who are familiar with the facts in the case and contend
the jurors did the right thing. This raises significant issues:
Did the media report this case correctly or was it wrong? How many
reporters have cited or referred to the Liebeck case as an example
of a runaway juror without interviewing the jurors or conducting
basic research into the facts of the case? The case is an excellent
example of the pitfalls of writing about a case without doing the
proper research.
Cases that have made headlines include the federal government’s
antitrust lawsuit against computer behemoth Microsoft as well as
the wrongful death lawsuit brought against O.J. Simpson by the
family of Ron Goldman, who was slain along with Simpson’s
ex-wife, Nicole, in 1994. (A judgment was entered against Simpson
for $33.5 million.)
Cases such as these are the exceptions for their
national notoriety. Amidst the tens of thousands of other lawsuits
filed each year in the U.S. are many other cases that become
newsworthy for the very same reasons that any dispute or public
action makes news:
- The parties are known to the public or are significant because
of their role in public-policy making or operation of government.
- The factual and legal issues are of public interest.
From Frivolous To Historic
A reporter should always keep in mind that given the litigious nature of our
society, just about any controversy or question that is imaginable can and
often does wind up in civil court. However, some cases that were initially
described as frivolous later came to be classified as historic. A good example
is the 1994 lawsuit filed by the state of Mississippi against the tobacco
industry. At the outset, the litigation was universally denounced as without
merit. But four years later, 40 more states came to file similar lawsuits
and, ultimately, the cases settled for $246 billion. The following descriptions
and information apply generally to both state and federal courts.
The vast majority of legal disputes in American courts are addressed
in state court. For example, state courts have jurisdiction over
virtually all divorce and child custody matters, probate and inheritance
issues, real estate questions, and juvenile matters, and they handle
most contract disputes, traffic violations, and personal injury
cases.
Before a court can hear a case, certain conditions must be met.
That means deciding which forum—federal or state—controls
the questions at issue. State courts resolve matters set forth
under state constitutions and federal courts exercise their powers
under the U.S. Constitution. While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
that the 14th Amendment incorporated the Sixth Amendment relating
to state courts in criminal cases, it never has ruled that the
Seventh Amendment applies to state courts in civil cases.
Assuming there is an actual case or controversy, the plaintiff
in a federal or state lawsuit also must have legal “standing” to
ask the court for a decision. That means the plaintiff must have
been legally harmed in some way by the defendant.
The case must present a category of dispute that the law in question
was designed to address, and it must be a complaint that the court
has the power to remedy. That means the court must be authorized,
under whichever constitution applies or under state or federal
law, to hear the case and grant appropriate relief.
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