Civil Cases

Pre-reading task: Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

1. истец;

2. судебное разбирательство;

3. частные лица;

4. денежная компенсация ущерба;

5. наличие более веских доказательств;

6. письменные объяснения, возражения ответчика по делу;

7. ответчик;

8. встречный иск;

9. бремя доказывания;

10. ответственность за ущерб;

11. подать иск, возбудить дело.

Civil cases are usually disputes between or among private citizens, corporations, governments, government agencies, and other organizations. Most often, the party bringing the suit is asking for money damages for some wrong that has been done.

The party bringing the suit is called the plaintiff; the party being sued is called the defendant. There may be many plaintiffs or many defendants in the same case.

The plaintiff starts the lawsuit by filing a paper called a complaint, in which the case against the defendant is stated. The next paper filed is usually the answer, in which the defendant disputes what the plaintiff has said in the complaint. The defendant may also feel that there has been a wrong committed by the plaintiff, in which case a counterclaim will be filed along with the answer. It is up to the plaintiff to prove the case against the defendant. This is called the plaintiff’s burden of proof, a burden that the plaintiff must meet in order to win. In most civil cases the plaintiff’s burden is to prove the case by a preponderance of evidence, that is, that the plaintiff’s version of what happened in the case is more probably true than not true.

Exercise 8