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Файл:Reading Comprehension in Law. Учебник
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3. Reserved judgment.
4. Overriding objective.
5. Pre-trial protocols.
6. Disclosure of documents.
7. Civil Procedure Rules.
Exercise 5
Write the words / phrases from Reading 1 associated with the participants of
civil proceedings in the correspondent column:
CLAIMANT
DEFENDANT
JUDGE
Exercise 6
Match the definitions with the terms from the text:
1. counter-claim
a) having the same position as another person
2. discretion
b) the document in which the defendant makes a claim
against the claimant
3. legal professional privilege
c) the right or ability to decide something
4. disclosure
d) the document starting a claim proceedings
5. witness statement
e) the process by which the claimant is required to
inform the defendant of documents they hold relevant
to the claim
6. claim form
f) written summary of oral evidence that the witness
will give at trial supporting the claim or defence
7. equal footing
g) a fundamental right that entitles a claimant to
withhold some evidence
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Exercise 7
Continue the following sentences to summarize the text:
1. The CPR requires that all cases are dealt with………
2. Before proceedings … are issued.
3. Proceedings begin …..
4. When defendant is served with proceedings …..
5. If the defendant wishes to defend the claim…….
6. All cases are actively supported by......
7. A party must disclose to the other party ……
8. Certain documents may be exempt from……
9. English trials require each party …..
10. Judgment may be given……
Exercise 8
What is civil litigation?
Fill in the blanks with the suitable words: cross-examined, against, govern,
defense, resolved, summing up, served, damages, initiation, arguments, within, filing.
Civil litigation is a formal judicial process whereby disputes between two parties
are (1)… through the court system. Each country has its own set of rules proscribed for
the (2) … as well as the conclusion, of the civil litigation process.
In the United States there are formal and exhaustive rules of civil procedure that
(3)….. the conduct of litigation from the initial stages up to and including a trial.
A party who initiates a civil action by (4)…..a claim in court is designated as a
claimant. The party (5) … whom the complaint is filed is called the defendant. The
claim is a statement that describes the dispute and it usually contains a request for
money (6)….. It must be (7) … on the defendant by an individual authorized by law.
Upon receipt the defendant must answer the complaint (8)……a specified period. After
the defendant files his (9)…..to the claim the discovery phase of civil litigation process
begins. In summary, the trial consists of each party's advocate setting out their case and
calling on the evidence of the witnesses and experts that they seek to rely on. These
witnesses may be (10)… by the opposing barrister. The trial will end with both parties'
barristers (11)… the evidence and making submissions on the relevant law. The judge
will make his decision based on the evidence and (12)… put before him.
Language note.
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Exercise 9
Fail to do smth./ failure to do smth.
Study this example from the text:
Sanctions may be imposed against parties who fail to comply with these requirements =
Sanctions may be imposed against parties who don’t comply with these requirements.
Change these sentences using the construction fail/failed to do:
1. If the employer doesn’t follow a certain dismissal procedure, an employee may
claim unfair dismissal.
2. They did not draft a contract.
3. The employer did not provide an employee with essential documents.
4. The seller did not deliver the goods.
5. The buyer did not pay for the goods.
6. The contract doesn’t explain the grievance procedure.
7. The advocate did not take a witness statement.
Exercise 10
Translate the expressions into English using the model below:
A failure to serve a defense will allow the claimant to win the case by default.
Несоблюдение постановлений.
Невыполнение условий судебного постановления.
Невыплата заработной платы.
Неполучение сообщения.
Несоблюдение процедуры.
Reading 2
Wish for justice?
It seems everyone has heard about the woman who spilled hot coffee in her lap
and successfully sued McDonald’s for millions of dollars. Results like that make the
rest of the world wonder what kind of crazy legal structure the U.S. has. The mystery of
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the jury trial and million dollar damage awards create the image of a court system to be
feared. In the United States the number of cases where people sue for damages or
compensation for medical malpractice has grown at an alarming rate. This US
obsession with litigation seems motivated by greed rather than the wish for justice.
An eighty year old woman sued McDonalds take-away for damages after she was
scalded by the coffee. She was awarded $640,000. A woman sued her vet for $1million
because of the emotional stress she suffered when he injured her pet iguana. A man
who deliberately jumped in front of a train in the New York subway sued the transport
company and won $650,000 damages because the train failed to stop. Thomas Wallace,
a black American, claimed that he and his three sons suffered emotional distress when
they came across the word nigger in their computer encyclopedia. Mr. Wallace had
typed the word nigger while searching for information on the Niger River. The computer
told him that Joseph Conrad had written a novel in the 19th century called Nigger of the
Narcissus, and that Martin Luther King had once been called a nigger by a white woman
when he was 11 years old. Mr. Wallace is now suing the encyclopedia company for
$40 million.
A British banker recently lost his job at a Canadian bank based in New York. He
is suing the bank, stating that he suffered mental anguish because of his French boss's
insistence on joking that the English were lousy cooks. He is claiming $20 million in
damages.
There are over 800,000 American lawyers (70 % of the world's total number),
many of whom openly encourage such lawsuits. A lawyer often takes on a lawsuit as a
sort of gamble. The lawyer enters an agreement with the client. If the client loses, the
lawyer forfeits the legal fee. If, however, the lawsuit is won, the lawyer takes up to
50 % of the amount awarded.
Of course, the law on which such litigation is based was originally promulgated
to protect the public from, for example, dishonest and irresponsible manufacturers or
incompetent doctors. A highly litigious environment has, however, developed. Many
people have lost their sense of personal responsibility ("if it hurts, sue") and are ready to
blame others for the slightest accident. Others are cynically making a lot of money from
the legal situation. As a practical consequence, professional indemnity insurance
premiums have risen. The politicians are at last taking action. Recently the House of
Representatives passed a bill, the Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform
Act, which places a ceiling on punitive damages in civil lawsuits and "pain and
suffering" settlements in medical malpractice suits. There has also been a change in the
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conditions necessary to bring product liability cases. Now there must be a "conscious
and flagrant" disregard to consumers' safety. Moreover, such a case must be brought
within a time limit of up to 15 years after the product launch. The bill also includes the
"British rule" which specifies that in some instances unsuccessful litigants should pay
the winners' legal fees. It seems that the legal lottery will soon be over.
Exercise 11
Answer the questions to Reading 1:
1. Why are US citizens so obsessed with litigation?
2. What are the most vivid examples of US obsession with litigation? What are
most of these cases based on? In your opinion, did the cases have legal grounds for
being handled by courts? (Were the claims reasonable to be accepted by courts?)
3. Who contributed to this obsession with litigation?
4. Why are lawyers eager to take on even unreasonable lawsuits?
5. How did this highly litigious environment affect the American society?
6. How are the politicians trying to deal with this problem?
Language work
Exercise 12
Find words or expressions in the above Reading 2 which have the following
meanings:
to announce a new law or system officially or publicly institute legal
proceedings;
money paid to compensate for injury or loss;
money charged by a lawyer for his or her service;
institute legal proceedings;
burnt (by hot water);
intentionally;
poor (inferior);
a proceeding brought by one person against another;
people who bring a lawsuit;
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protection against claims from clients or patients for damages arising from
one's professional actions;
the tort of failing to act in a professional way according to your status;
an upper limit;
very obvious;
to have smth taken away as a punishment.
Exercise 13
Fill in the sentences with prepositions where necessary:
1. It is standard practice to sue….. hospitals …… damages or compensation …..
medical malpractice.
2. He is claiming…. $30 million ... damages.
3. In a highly litigious environment people are eager to blame….. others ….. the
slightest accident.
4. The Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act places a ceiling
…. punitive damages in civil lawsuits.
5. Moreover, civil lawsuits must be brought … a time limit of up …. 15 years
after the product launch.
Exercise 14
Consult the text and find the synonyms for the noun stress. Which verb
collocates with all these synonyms?
Exercise 15
Find other forms of the word litigation.
Reading 3
First, let’s look at a short story using five common legal English phrasal
verbs:
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Seven months ago, Amy the Landlord decided that she had had enough. The lease
for one of her tenants, Kirk, had expired the month before, yet he chose to hold over
rather than leave the apartment. Amy had no choice but to file an eviction action. When
the sheriff went to serve Kirk with the summons and complaint, another woman held
herself out to be a tenant in the premises, although she wasn’t on the lease and wasn’t
living there. She accepted service. When the complaint was filed, the court had set down
the date of the hearing for the following Monday. In court that day, Kirk tried to put in
the record the complaints that he had allegedly made to Amy about what he claimed
were repairs that Amy should have made. The court decided in Amy’s favor and
determined that she was entitled to possession of the premises. Once Kirk realized the
difficulty he was going to have renting another apartment with an eviction in his record,
he tried to have the judgment set aside. However, given that there were no grounds for
doing so, the court dismissed his motion.
To hold over: A tenant’s action in continuing to occupy the leased premises after
the lease term has expired.
To hold out: To represent oneself or another as having a certain legal status, as by
claiming to be an agent or partner with authority to enter into transactions.
To put in (before the court): To place in due form before a court; to place among
the records of the court.
To set down: to schedule, as in a hearing for court.
To set aside (sentence): to annul or declare invalid a sentence or judgment entered.
Vocabulary focus
Let’s look at some of the many ways we can say to commence legal action against
someone, or in other words what phrases we can use to describe when we bring someone to
court for something that they have done wrong to us that has caused damages.
To commence a legal action against someone: This is the phrase that is found in
the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure and the one that sounds the most “lawyer-like”.
Rule 3.01 says that “A civil action is commenced against each defendant…”. The
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure use the same language. I don’t recommend using this
phrase in everyday, spoken language.
To bring a claim or complaint against someone: This is a very common
expression that attorneys use. It is used in a civil context. For example, an attorney
might say, “We decided to bring a claim (or complaint) for breach of contract against
XYZ Company after we were unable to settle the matter through mediation”.
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To bring a cause of action: This expression is less used than to bring a claim or
file a claim, but still a perfectly good way of expressing commencing a legal action. We
could say: “After we discovered that one of our former employees copied files from her
computer, we brought a cause of action for misappropriation of trade secrets and breach
of contract”.
To file a complaint or claim against someone: Like “to bring claim,” this is
another very common expression used by attorneys and other legal professionals. “We
filed a complaint for trademark infringement after the defendant failed to comply with our
cease and desist letter.” This can be used in a criminal law context, e.g. a complaint was
filed against the defendant. However, it is also very common to use the phrase “to file
charges”. For example: Charges were filed against the defendant for assault and rape.
To prosecute (civilly or criminally): To prosecute is usually used in a criminal
context, as the state or federal attorneys who bring criminal charges against a defendant
are known as prosecutors. However, we can also say that we prosecute someone civilly,
meaning in civil court and by filing a civil complaint.
To sue: This is the most common phrase used by non-lawyers, and the one that is
least used by lawyers. It is a layman’s way of saying to file a complaint. Although
clients might use this phrase, it is recommended that attorneys use it only when speaking
with clients so that they understand clearly what you are saying.
Exercise 16
Over to you
Make up your own examples using the above mentioned phrases.
Exercise 17
Work with a dictionary. Study these collocations and translate the examples
with them:
legal action against sb — There will be no legal action against the healthcare trust;
threaten (sb with) legal action — Employers who hire illegal immigrants are
being threatened with legal action;
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take legal action (against sb/sth) — Lenders do not generally take legal action
until the borrower is three months in arrears;
begin/launch/bring legal action (against sb/sth) — The European
Commission launched legal action against two member states;
face legal action — Several leading national newspapers now face legal
actions for libel;
the threat/prospect of legal action — The threat of legal action is the latest
twist in an increasingly bitter dispute between management and unions;
have grounds for legal action — Lawyers say the company probably has
grounds for legal action under the Trades Description Act;
costly/further/possible legal action — He declined to comment on the
situation further because of possible legal actions.
(Definition of a legal action from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary ©
Cambridge University Press).
Exercise 18
Synonyms for legal proceeding (proceedings) Study the words and find more
collocations with them. Put down your examples with the collocations.
See also: action / action at law / case / hearing / judicial proceeding / lawsuit /
legal action / litigation / procedure / suit.
Writing
Exercise 19
Use the information and language of this unit, your own background knowledge
on the subject to write an essay answering the question:
What is the litigation procedure in your culture? Do you think developed litigation
culture is important for administration of justice, protection of rights, freedoms and
interests of individuals? Explain your point of view.
What sort of problems do you think a foreign lawyer may experience in your legal
system?
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Exercise 20
Post-trial stage: Appeals
Fill in the blanks with the following words: orders, instance, defaulted, trial
court, evidence, rendered, judgment, review, motions, appeal, proceeding, final
decision, trial, merits.
A judgment of a court of first … (1) may be attacked either by an … (2) to a
higher court or by a request for some form of … (3) of the judgment by the court that …
(4) it. Thus, it is quite generally possible for a defendant who has … (5) to ask a court to
reopen the case and hear it on its … (6) In Anglo-American courts, it is frequently
possible to ask for a new … (7) In some cases, if, for example, there is newly discovered
… (8), procedures analogous to …(9) for a new trial exist in European countries. The
party to any … (10) should determine if the judgment may be appealed, because not
every decision of a … (11) can be appealed. In general, only final judgments or final …
(12) may be appealed. In certain countries and in some states of the United States, an
appeal of a … (13) that is not a … (14) can be made in addition to appeals of final
decisions.
You are a counsel for the defense (in Russia or in the UK, the USA) Explain a
possible route of an appeal against a court judgment to a foreign client.
What are the procedures for appealing on civil matters in Russia?
What sort of problems may a foreign lawyer experience in your legal system?
Over to you
Think of a situation which might be possible in real life and explain your client
the merits of the case and what the appeal will likely result in this situation. Think about
possible strategies and propose a solution.
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