Law Office of Steven M. Hyder

Priority One Legal Services

Home
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CASE
Current Corporate Clients
General Overview
Criminal Law
Civil Law
Worker's Compensation
Construction Law
Contract Negotiation
About Us
Site Map
***PAY NOW***
GENERAL OVERVIEW
 
There are two different types of court cases. CRIMINAL CASES and CIVIL CASES.

 

A criminal case arises when the government seeks to punish an individual for an act that has been classified as a crime by Congress or a state legislature.

 

A civil case, on the other hand, usually has to do with a dispute over the rights and duties those individuals and organizations legally owe to each other. Civil law normally doesn’t have an effect on your personal liberties. Civil Law usually deals with contracts, divorces, personal injury and other types of torts. Hopefully this helps as you make your way through this website.

 

 

 

 Among the important differences between criminal and civil cases are these:

  • In a criminal case a prosecutor, not the crime victim, initiates and controls the case. The prosecutor may file criminal charges even if the victim doesn't approve, or refuse to file criminal charges despite the victim's desire that criminal charges be filed. This method of beginning the case contrasts with civil cases where the injured party is the one who starts the ball rolling -- although if you view the prosecutor as a stand-in for the community injured by a crime, then there's not much difference.
  • A person convicted of a crime may pay a fine or be incarcerated or both. People who are held responsible in civil cases may have to pay money damages or give up property, but do not go to jail or prison. (We don't have "debtors' prisons" for those who can't pay a civil judgment.)
  • In criminal cases, government-paid lawyers represent defendants who want but can't afford an attorney. Parties in civil cases, on the other hand, usually have to represent themselves or pay for their own lawyers.
  • In criminal cases, the prosecutor has to prove a defendant's guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt." In a civil case, the plaintiff has to show only by a "preponderance of the evidence" (more than 50%) that the defendant is liable for damages.
  • Defendants in criminal cases are almost always entitled to a jury trial. A party to a civil action is entitled to a jury trial in some types of cases, but not in others.