Civil Procedure

This is FindLaw’s collection of Civil Procedure articles, part of the Litigation and Disputes section of the Corporate Counsel Center. It is the body of law surrounding procedural rules detailing how the court will handle a civil case. Civil procedure is a set of rules that help determine what pleas, orders and motions are allowed, as well as how to handle depositions and discovery. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, adopted by the US federal court in 1938, has been used by most states. Law articles in this archive are predominantly written by lawyers for a professional audience seeking business solutions to legal issues. Start your free research with FindLaw.

Civil Litigation

Civil Procedure Articles

PARALEGAL PERSPECTIVE: Preparing a Client for Bankruptcy

Virtually all attorneys and/or law firms have their own procedure in preparing to take a potential client through a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 Bankruptcy proceeding. Most firms choose the most cost effective method to obtain information from their ...
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PHKS Technology Alert: Wayward Trends in Internet Unfair Competition Litigation

To the Unwary Goes the Spoliation Claim Are you in danger of having to defend an allegation of spoliation? Do you even know that there is such a danger? Spoliation is the destruction, loss, or significant alteration of evidence, whether a document ...
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Preserving the Record for Appeal: Top Ten Mistakes

The four saddest words from the Court of Appeal are these: "Great argument; not preserved." Alas, even the sharpest legal mind and best honed rhetoric cannot resurrect a terrific argument that was not properly preserved for appellate review ...
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Products Liability Update: Legislative Update: A Return to Modest Proposals

Following the defeat of attempts at sweeping reforms earlier this year (such as the death in the Senate of the Product Liability Reform Act of 1997), the second half of 1998 saw a retreat to more modest reform proposals directed at particular issues ...
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Products Liability Update: Spring 1998: Daubert Update

In this issue:Daubert Update Two Mass Tort Settlements: One Up, One Down (So Far) Medical Devices: Update on Preemption Defense Since Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr The End of an Era - Lessons to be Learned from the Bendectin LitigationDaubert v. Merrell ...
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Proposed Amendments To U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Portend Significant Changes To Corporate Compliance Programs

On April 30, 2004, the U.S. Sentencing Commission approved amendments to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines with potentially significant implications for business organizations that administer compliance and ethics programs. In announcing that the ...
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Pursuing a Medical Malpractice Claim in Illinois: Be Aware of the Statute of Limitations

If you have been injured, or if a family member died through the negligence of a doctor or hospital, you may not even know it. Unfortunately, many, if not most, incidents of medical malpractice go undetected or unreported according to a recent ...
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Recent Changes in the Admissibility of Biomechanical Expert Testimony in Delaware

Delaware's Supreme Court recently decided a trio of cases concerning the admissibility of biomechanical expert testimony. Biomechanics is the study of "the mechanical bases of biological, especially muscular, activity; also: the study of the ...
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Recent Developments in the Law

A July 1996 Court of Appeals decision, City and County of San Francisco v. Stacey & Witbeck and Nationwide, 47 Cal. App. 4th 1, 54 Cal. Rptr. 2d 530 (1996) held that the litigation privilege does not apply to protect statements made in the contract ...
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Reconsidering Summary Judgment: The Propriety of Revisiting Dispositive Motions

Parties that have lost motions for summary judgment are, with some frequency, requesting courts to reconsider the motion. A number of recent decisions have evaluated the propriety of reconsidering motions for summary judgment. This article will ...
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