1. Pick three to five topics, terms, concepts, or subjects that are interesting in this video
2. Discuss in detail the chosen topics, terms, concepts, or subject areas, including what you can learn and why it interesting
3. Each topic, term, concept, or subject area highlighted should be no less than one paragraph containing four to five sentences.
4. Include video timestamps
5. https://youtu.be/HS3d5IGD60M?si=8cH54TBpZcaiY_jE
6. A Primer on the Litigation Process

Introduction

0:00

I am Professor Angela Upchurch, and this

0:03

video a primer on the litigation process

0:06

is designed to help you as a tort

0:08

student read and understand cases with

0:10

an eye towards the litigation process in

0:13

other words it's a basic on what happens

0:16

during the course of a

Appellate Court Decisions

0:18

lawsuit one thing you need to understand

0:20

is that your casebook is comprised of a

0:22

lot of appell at Court decisions and

0:24

that's true not only in torts but in

0:26

most of your first year classes an

0:29

appella Court decision is really

0:31

reviewing the trial court and any lower

0:33

appell courts beneath the appell court

0:35

that you're reading their decisions in

0:38

the case and so often like in torts what

0:41

we're really trying to do is understand

0:44

the law at the basic trial level but

0:47

we're looking at it uh through the lens

0:50

of the appell court judge who basically

0:53

is critiquing reviewing the decisions

0:56

that the trial judge made

0:58

below so what you need to think about

1:01

and ask yourself when you're reading

1:03

these appell at Court decisions in terms

1:05

of process is first at what point in the

1:09

trial lawsuit where are we when the

1:13

decision was made that this appell court

1:16

is now

1:17

reviewing all right were they early in

1:20

the litigation process partway through

1:23

after or at

1:25

trial the next thing you want to ask

1:27

yourself is what information was before

1:30

this trial judge if they're very early

1:33

in the litigation process they may not

1:36

have any evidence in front of them they

1:38

may just be looking at the party's

1:41

papers thirdly you want to ask yourself

1:44

what happens if the appell court

1:46

reverses the trial judge what's going to

1:48

happen to this case is Judgment going to

1:51

be entered for the opposing party is new

1:53

trial going to be ordered do we continue

1:56

where we

1:58

were so let's take a little look at the

The Litigation Process

2:01

litigation process and think of it as a

2:04

timeline when an a party is injured like

2:08

in the case of torts and seeks to sue uh

2:12

the party that wronged them uh typically

2:15

what they're suing for is Damages and

2:16

that's what we're going to kind of work

2:17

on when we think about this uh

2:19

litigation timeline and so I've

2:21

simplified this tremendously you'll

2:23

learn a lot more about this in civil

2:24

procedure but just to give you some

2:26

context so when you're reading these

2:27

decisions you understand what's going on

2:30

so let's say that injur party like to go

2:32

to court well the first phase in

2:34

litigation is the pleadings phase and

2:37

you want to think of this as the way to

2:39

get through the doors to the court right

2:42

so what you do as a a plaintiff party is

2:45

you file a complaint um it's basically

2:47

your papers that set Force the the

2:49

claims you are bringing against any um

2:52

opposing parties or defendants that

2:54

you're bringing in your lawsuit so let's

2:56

say you were injured in a car accident

2:59

you as the complain if the injured party

3:01

brings a suit against the driver of the

3:03

other car as the defendant and in your

3:05

complaint you assert the tort claims

3:08

that you want to bring against that

3:11

driver the opposing party the driver the

3:14

defendant also gets the opportunity to

3:17

put their papers before the court um and

3:20

that is an answer there are more than

3:22

just the complaint and answer that form

3:24

the pleadings but that's the basics um

3:26

they get the opportunity to assert any

3:28

claims they have against the injured

3:31

party they also have the opportunity to

3:33

assert any defenses they have to the

3:35

claims that are brought against them so

3:37

this is very early in the process and

3:39

what you're looking at is the party's

3:41

papers before the court the way to get

3:43

into the court and explain what this

3:45

lawsuit is really about to the trial

3:48

judge the next large phase of the

3:51

litigation process is Discovery and in a

3:54

nutshell Discovery is really where the

3:56

parties learn more about the lawsuit uh

4:00

so they exchange a great deal of

4:01

information in the form of records and

4:03

files um medical exams can happen at

4:06

this point in time they could identify

4:08

potential witnesses that they might call

4:10

it trial and they get to interview these

4:12

people to learn what they know about the

4:15

lawsuits claims and defenses they might

4:18

modify some of the pleadings they filed

4:20

in court earlier based on what they

4:22

learn in Discovery this is a big chunk

4:24

of the time of litigation and a lot of

4:26

it its expenses as well

4:30

after discovery is completed the case

4:32

goes to trial um this is what you often

4:35

see in TV representations of litigation

4:38

this is where the party gets to make the

4:41

their opening uh statements before the

4:43

jury they get to put on their evidence

4:46

uh they get a cross-examine and examine

4:48

Witnesses they make objections to

4:51

evidence they make their closing

4:53

statement then the judge instructs the

4:55

jury on the law and the jury deliberates

4:57

and reaches a verdict

5:00

right after that we get a judgment this

5:04

the judge enters it's for the winning

5:06

party after the trial um at this point

5:09

the parties can then use that judgment

5:12

and execute it against uh the other side

5:14

uh turn it into money damages uh for

5:17

example um they also can appeal this

5:20

judgment and in the cases in your

5:21

casebook that's what occurred uh they

5:23

are appealing um either a judgment that

5:25

H um a judgment was entered at the end

5:27

of a full trial or a judgment that was

5:29

centered before full trial so let's talk

5:32

about that for a moment this is sort of

5:33

a very generic um look at the litigation

5:38

process timeline um like I said you'll

5:40

learn more nuances to it in civil

5:42

procedure But ultimately a lot of what

5:45

you're reading in your casebooks is uh

5:47

reaching that judgment and you can reach

5:49

it through the full process after a full

5:52

trial and a jury verdict you can also

5:54

find ways to shortcut it and that is

5:56

known as our motions practice so if we

5:59

look at the same timeline what we're

6:00

going to do is highlight some of the

6:02

Motions that you'll see in the

6:04

litigation process and these are often

6:06

what your um reading in the appet

6:09

decision is the review of a

6:11

determination of a judgment entered

6:14

after a motion was made so the earliest

6:16

motion that we can make is a motion to

6:19

dismiss um it's known by different names

6:21

in some State systems um motions to

6:24

demure basically these early motions are

6:28

looking at the plead alone remember

6:30

that's how we got into the court it's

6:32

the papers we filed and what the party

6:35

is seeking to have done at this point is

6:37

for the judge just to look at those

6:39

papers the claims the defenses what

6:41

we've asserted and say based on what

6:44

we've asserted I'm entitled to judgment

6:46

so basically end run the whole process

6:48

and get to my judgment now sometimes

6:51

we'll read app pellet decisions and

6:53

which a motion to dismiss has been

6:55

granted and the appell court is

6:57

considering that trial judges decision

7:00

and realize in that kind of a case this

7:02

decision was made very early in the

7:04

litigation and is dealing with the

7:07

party's papers not Witnesses not a trial

7:10

not even um information obtained during

7:14

Discovery the next type uh time we see

7:17

motions is in Discovery and a lot of

7:19

motions are filed during Discovery um or

7:22

this is a common time to see this motion

7:24

it's the motion for summary

7:26

judgment this motion will read several

7:29

opinions in your casebook over this

7:31

semester uh that were grants of motions

7:33

for summary judgment and basically what

7:36

this is is another attempt for the a

7:39

party to get an early judgment from the

7:42

court to um now only Leap Frog around

7:46

the trial process um and what the part's

7:49

asking the judge to do is say look at

7:51

all the information we've obtained

7:53

during Discovery here's the records

7:56

here's uh their affidavits here's the

7:58

deposition testimony I took from um

8:02

these individuals who will come to

8:03

testify in court should we have a trial

8:06

and look at what they're going to tell

8:07

you they've already said it um under

8:09

oath um you don't need to go to trial

8:13

just look at what we've what we've

8:14

uncovered here and grant me a motion U

8:18

grant me a judgment in my

8:22

favor the next series of motions that

8:25

we'll see are ones made during trial um

8:28

one common is the motion for judgment as

8:30

a matter of law it also has other names

8:33

and different state systems um this one

8:36

is where you are in the middle of trial

8:39

and the opposing party has rested and

8:42

you're asking the judge to say look you

8:45

just saw that witness and all the

8:47

opposing parties Witnesses testify based

8:50

on what they've said on the stand here

8:51

at trial there's no reason the jury

8:54

needs to uh deliberate here it's clear

8:57

there's no question um basically uh I

9:01

should be awarded a judgment and it's

9:03

more Nuance than that but that's a good

9:05

kind of a rough way to think about it

9:08

and so you're basically getting around

9:10

the deliberation process at this point

9:13

to get to your judgment there are some

9:16

motions that happen after trial they're

9:19

post-trial motions two main ones that

9:21

you'll want to know about as you read

9:24

the appet decisions in your torts

9:26

casebook this semester the main one um

9:29

first is a motion for judgment as a

9:31

matter of law uh this one is just like

9:35

the one you saw during trial basically

9:37

what the part is asking for for this one

9:40

is a judgment in their favor basically

9:42

notwithstanding whatever the verdict is

9:44

from the jury I should be given judgment

9:46

as a matter of law the reason I have a

9:49

little

9:50

um the no symbol here is they're not

9:53

asking for a new trial they're really

9:55

just asking for a judgment to be entered

9:57

in their favor uh the other motion uh by

10:01

contrast is a new trial motion this one

10:03

is asking the judge to basically allow a

10:06

redo of the trial and to send the case

10:09

back to the beginning of trial with a

10:10

new jury uh to

10:12

reconsider uh the the the evidence and

10:16

render a new

Judge vs Jury

10:19

verdict one last point of information

10:22

before we close up this video um is

10:25

something to think about which is the

10:27

different roles a judge has versus is a

10:29

jury all right so we're going to think

10:31

about the judge's role here for a moment

10:34

and their role as a a judge and not as a

10:37

triy or a fact um the judge generally is

10:40

uh basically the the Umpire in the room

10:44

they rule on matters of law they make

10:46

the decisions on motions or and on

10:49

objections that are raised by the

10:52

parties they decide legal questions they

10:55

supervise the pleadings process and

10:57

Discovery uh they ALS so uh supervise

11:00

trial by ruling on objections and giving

11:02

the jury their instructions and

11:04

ultimately they enter the Judgment at

11:06

the end of trial or on a motion should

11:08

they choose to Grant

11:10

it um they also can wear the hat of the

11:14

tri of fact and so there are times when

11:17

a judge has to play two different roles

11:19

um what I have summarized here is their

11:21

role as a judge in that role and not

11:24

really as the trior fact sometimes they

11:26

jump over and play the trior fact role

11:28

which is the one that the jury plays in

11:31

a jury trial but if you have a bench

11:33

trial the judge also plays that

11:36

FactFinder role so what is the

11:37

FactFinder role or the jury's role well

11:40

it's a role that happens at trial only

11:43

at trial and they decide the facts that

11:45

are before them and they apply uh the

11:48

law to the facts um as directed by the

11:50

judge through the jury instructions um

11:53

they determine the credibility of

11:55

witnesses um and they weigh the evidence

11:58

and ultimately with the jury's uh

12:00

instructions uh that are given to them

12:02

by the judge they uh deliberate and

12:04

render a verdict and we'll talk more

12:07

about this as the semester continues and

12:10

you'll of course deal with this in more

12:12

detail and with all of the Nuance when

12:14

you get to civil procedure but hopefully

12:16

this provides you a little bit of

12:17

context as you're thinking about and

12:19

reading the torts decisions in your

12:21

casebook this semester