The Civil Litigation Process
The Civil Litigation Process
The Civil Litigation Process
The focus of this paper will be to show how an employee would take a discrimination complaint against his or her employer. The process will be explored from where one would begin with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and proceeds through the civil litigation process from the state level up to the United States Supreme Court. In the examination of this scenario, it becomes necessary to define two key terms: discrimination and civil litigation.
Discrimination may be defined as the “prejudiced or prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment” of an individual or group towards another person or group (
Chris Honeyman states that “civil litigation is…the process that will be used if no other arrangement is agreed upon, for all sorts of asserted wrongs” (
The Process
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, one must ask oneself a series of questions prior to filing a charge of employment discrimination. As a general rule for employees in the private sector, the answer to whom can file a charge of discrimination would be “any individual who believes that his or her employment rights have been violated” (
State Court
In Florida, any person may file a complaint with the Florida Civil Rights Commission or the EEOC within one year of the violation. The commission shall determine, within 180 days, if a discriminatory practice has occurred. At this point one may bring a civil case against the person named in the complaint in state court. (
The Federal Court
To begin a civil lawsuit in federal court, the plaintiff files a complaint and serves the complaint on the defendant. The complaint describes the injury received and how the defendant caused the injury. A plaintiff may seek financial compensation or may ask the court instruct defendant to stop the injurious conduct. To prepare for trial, both parties may conduct discovery, which is the gathering of information concerning the case in preparation for trial.
In most cases, judges will encourage the parties to reach an agreement resolving their dispute. As a result, litigants often decide to resolve a civil lawsuit with an agreement known as a settlement. If the case is not settled, the court will schedule either a jury or bench trial. The jury or the judge will make the determination as to whether the defendant is responsible for harming the plaintiff in some way, and to determine the damages that the defendant will be required to pay. “In a civil case the plaintiff must convince the jury by a “preponderance of the evidence” (i.e., that it is more likely than not) that the defendant is responsible for the harm the plaintiff has suffered” (
The United States Supreme