In the US, litigation is composed of 6 stages:
1 Claims - where the plaintiff submits a description of the alleged wrongs to the defendant or its insurer
2 Pleading- where official documents are filed with a court and served on all parties to the legal action. These documents describe the wrongs alleged to have been suffered by the plaintiff and the defenses claimed by the defendant
3 Discovery- where the parties in an "adversarial" system (most common law jurisdictions) are allowed to elicit information from their opponents and to "discover" the evidence which will support their claims
4 Adjudication- if the parties can not informally resolve their differences, the case will proceed to a trial or other similar proceeding where a "trier of fact" (judge or jury) will make a final decision about the facts and issues of law. This final resolution by a neutral 3rd party is referred to as adjudication.
5 Appeal- In some cases, a party can appeal the decision of the trier of fact to a higher court.
6 law and motion- this stage usually runs concurrently with the other stages. A party may make a motion before the court, asking the judge to decide preliminary issues. For example, if one party refuses to comply with discovery requests, the other party can move the court to fine the non-complying party and order them to respond. Typical motions include motions to compel and motions for summary judgment.



plaintiff - person claiming an injury and seeking redress

defendant- the person being sued because he allegedly committed some wrong

Res Ipsa Loquitur  - The thing speaks for itself.

negligence per se  - Unexcused violation of a statute or an administrative regulation which is adopted by the court as defining the standard of conduct of a reasonable person.  

Venue is the legally proper place where a particular case should be filed or handled

Jurisdiction is the authority given to a legal body, or to a political leader (Prime Minister, President, etc.) to deal with legal matters, and to pronounce or enforce legal judgment

Causation - Causation is the causal relationship between conduct and result (proximate cause and but for cause)
a proximate cause must be close in time and place to the relevant event

litigation - An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit.

deposition - The testimony of a party or witness in a civil or criminal proceeding taken before trial

affirmative defenses- those defenses which a defendant is required to raise on his behalf. If he does not raise them in a timely manner, they are waived.

waiver- giving up or relinquishing a legal right

laches- waiting too long to enforce a right or raise an issue

statute of limitations- the time limit during which a person may seek to file a claim or enforce a legal right. Once the statute of limitations runs, the claim or right is forever barred

I have also attached several documents related to litigation. You do not need to read them all, but look over them so that we can discuss them in class. Come prepared with an idea of some wrong that a classmate has committed against you so that we can conduct a mock lawsuit.We will discuss many of the concepts contained in the attachments, including the parties to a lawsuit, and numerous concepts relevant to the litigation process.

The first is a complaint on pleading paper. You may have trouble opening it without the proper template, but I have also attached it without the pleading paper format. I have also attached a typical answer to a complaint and 2 forms of discovery- a request for production of documents and specially prepared interrogatories.