A civil case is a private, non-criminal lawsuit, usually involving private property rights, including respecting rights stated under the Constitution or under federal or state law. For example, lawsuits involving breach of contract, probate,...
mass tort litigation
civil liability
Civil liability is a legal obligation that requires a party to pay for damages or to follow other court-enforcements in a lawsuit. Different from criminal liability, which is often brought by the State to redress a public wrong, civil...
class
A class is a group of people or things defined by one or more common attributes. In a legal context, a class refers to all those persons who are in the same category, having the same type of rights or who have suffered from the same incident...
commercial tort claim
A commercial tort claim is a type of tort claim where the claimant is an organization or an individual and the claim comes in the course of the business or profession of the claimant and does not include damages arising out of personal injury...
common carrier
A common carrier is a person or a commercial enterprise that transports passengers or goods for a fee and establishes that their service is open to the general public. Typical examples of common carriers include, a shipowner, railroad,...
constitutional tort
A constitutional tort is a violation of one’s constitutional rights by a government employee. The alleged constitutional violation creates a cause of action that is distinct from any otherwise available state tort remedy. “Constitutional tort...
consumer expectations test
A consumer expectations test is a standard used for determining if a design defect exists in a products liability tort case. The consumer expectation test imposes a liability on the seller of a product if the product is in a defective...
contingent fee
A contingent fee, also known as a contingency fee, is a method of compensation for legal services. A lawyer who works on contingency receives a percentage of their client’s monetary award as compensation rather than billing a fixed hourly...
contract of adhesion
See Adhesion contract.
contributory negligence
Contributory negligence is a common law tort rule which bars plaintiffs from recovering for the negligence of others if they too were negligent in causing the harm. Contributory negligence has been replaced in many jurisdictions with the...