Civil vs. Criminal Law: Untangling the Legal Battles

With mountains of litigation piling up against President Donald Trump’s many Executive Orders, it is important for the average citizen to understand the differences between civil law and criminal law. A civil case is when one entity brings a legal action against another entity to correct some alleged wrongdoing. The corrective action may be an injunction to stop something from happening or to make something happen or it may be a request for money damages to compensate the plaintiff for damages suffered. The legal documents to begin a civil lawsuit are much different than a criminal case and so are the legal procedures followed to advance a case towards trial. Civil cases often are highly complex with multiple parties suing each other in the same case. Discovery of information, while a case is pending, also, is far more complicated in a civil case than a criminal matter. On this episode of Next Witness…Please, retired judge co-hosts, Gayle Williams-Byers and Thomas Hodson break down the typical discovery methods. They talk about the production of documents and the importance that documents play in most civil matters. They also explain the differences between written interrogatories and depositions, the taking of oral testimony, under oath, of a potential witness prior to trial. If a civil matter reaches the trial stage, there are differences in the trial from a criminal case. Our co-hosts translate those differences into everyday terms for all to understand. By the end of this podcast episode, you will have a greater understanding of civil litigation and civil procedures.