Civil court cases are mostly disagreements between individuals or groups. However, these disagreements can only be solved in court. There will be two sides in a civil case – a Claimant, who is bringing the claim; and a Defendant, who is defending the claim.
If someone has committed an offense but is not that grave compared to murder, rape and abuse, he or she may only be filed with a civil case. Civil court cases are offenses that have caused damages. The offender has to take responsibility of these damages. This type of case does not involve crime.
There are several kinds of cases in Civil Court. These differ depending on the demands and complaints filed.
General Civil Cases
General Civil court cases involve suing someone for money in disagreements over someone getting hurt, contracts and damages to property. This can also be file by corporations. This involves an amount of money being borrowed and not settled (amount depending on the country).
Small Claims Cases
These cases can be filed by individuals or companies against another individual or company for unsettled accounts that are less than of the general civil court cases. There are no lawyers allowed in this type of case.
Family Law
These are cases such as child support, child custody, adoptions, annulment or divorce.
Juvenile Cases
When children under the age of 18 and below are involved, this will be filed under the juvenile cases. Children 18 and below cannot be charged with a criminal law and cannot be imprisoned.
Tenant/Landlord Cases
This happens when a landlord tries to evict a tenant or when a tenant who has not moved out is trying to get his deposit back. These disputes need to be settled legally.
In civil court cases, the judge or jury decides basing on the evidence that is more believable. This standard, which is called Preponderance of the evidence, explains that no matter how many evidences are gathered by both parties, the judge of jury will still decide considering the most believable.
Civil court cases penalize offenders with a civil fine – a financial penalty. This is to compensate the hard done and damages of the wrongful act. Unlike criminal cases, civil court cases do not carry jail time and other legal penalties. In other cases, aside from civil fines, the judge or court can revoke permits or licenses of the offenders when found out guilty.
