Civil Litigation Process For Sexual HarassmentEssay Preview: Civil Litigation Process For Sexual HarassmentReport this essayCIVIL LITIGATION PROCESSQuestion:You are a corporate vice president of a large software development & manufacturing company. Specifically, you are in charge of the companys human resources division. One of your responsibilities is to work with the companys retained law firm on suits against the company by present and former employees. A former employee has just filed suit against the company and one of its supervisors for sexual harassment. The citation has been served upon the authorized agent for the company today. You have also been advised today that you are going to be promoted to senior vice president in charge of software development and that the new human resources director has little experience with matters related to civil litigation. You must orient the new director to the mechanics of how a civil lawsuit works its way through the legal system so that she can integrate her activities with that of the law firm in defense of the newly filed suit
Prepare a three (3) to five (5) page memo to the new director generally describing the litigation process.X Liu Chang, Manager, HR departmentFrom:Phuong Tonnu, Vice PresidentDate:10/7/04Subject:Litigation process for recent lawsuit of sexual harassmentOver viewThe following document is a description of sexual harassment litigation process and my proposals to create a manual policy on sexual harassment cases.The Stages of Sexual Harassment LitigationBeginning of Controversy and Attempts to Resolve Conflict“Having an litigation goalThe goal of the case should be determined as early as possible, by the facts, witnesses, forum and client, because it will dictate how you will manage the litigation. For instance, if the forum, facts and client indicate that (1) summary judgment is not possibility and (2) the case will not be tried, then the goal likely will be to lower the plaintiffs expectations of the prevailing at trial through discovery. In these cases, you will likely propound extensive discovery requests and conduct your trial cross-examination of the plaintiff during her deposition to expose every weakness in the plaintiffs case. However, is summary judgment is not possible but a trial is probable, you likely will want to set up the plaintiff for damaging cross examination at trial during her deposition. If you believe the plaintiffs case is totally frivolous and the goal is to get attorneys fees then you must begin to build a record very early on with the plaintiff attorney – warning him in numerous letters that you believe his case has absolutely no basis in law or fact and that you plan to seek attorney fees.
The goal of litigation initially is to pursue a lawsuit and settle out of court. If both parties can reach a settlement, there is money saved from not enduring a trial. But since there is no way to know if a case will go to trial or settle, the process involved in litigation must proceed as if there will be a trial. All pretrial preparation must be made prior to the trial date.
Pleading StageResponsive pleadings. Once the complaint is filed, the defense (WE) has to respond. We can file an answer in which it admit what plaintiff claims but also raise certain legal defenses such as the complaint was filed too late (called the “statute of limitations”). This kind of defense is called affirmative defense. Or else, we could also deny the allegation and set forth our own claim that the incidence occurred as a result of the plaintiffs action (dressed casually and provoking at work) (called counterclaim). The complaint and the answer (together called the pleadings) frame the dispute between the parties.
Pretrial motions. On the other hand, we can file a motion arguing that the court should dismiss the case on a legal ground. Normally motions are decided by the court on the basis of the papers filed by the parties and do not involve witnesses (though they may require affidavits or declarations). There are many legal grounds for filing motions. The most common motion is for summary judgment. Such a motion asserts that there are no disputed issues of material fact and that, given the law, the case can be decided by the judge without a trial on the facts. The defendant may make such a motion where a legal rule bars plaintiffs case or where the evidence is deficient in some critical respect. The motion will be denied if the judge rejects the legal argument or finds that the outcome depends on disputed facts that require a trial for decision. Motions for summary judgment are more commonly made by defendants, but they are available to plaintiffs as well. Another motion is motion or judgment on the pleadings. It can be filed once the pleadings are closed, with no further disputing. This will happen if the law needs to be applied to undisputed facts and the case need not proceed to trial. If any facts are in dispute the motion will not be granted. The motion to strike can also be filed by a defendant in asking the court to strike or delete certain paragraphs of the complaint. When these motions are filed they can help narrow down the issue involved and expedite litigation. A motion to make more definite and certain is one filed by the defendant asking the plaintiff to clarify the basis of the plaintiffs cause of action. This will occur if the complaint seems to be ambiguous.
Discovery StageQuoted from CASE expert handbook version 2.0: A major part of the pretrial process consists of discovery, i.e., the process by which the opposing parties obtain information from each other. Discovery is conducted in a variety of ways: by interrogatories (written questions calling for written answers); requests for the production of documents (enabling the requesting party to inspect the desired documents); and depositions (pretrial examination of parties or witnesses). Discovery is important in the American legal system for several reasons. First, in order to be advocates for their clients, lawyers need to prepare for trial by access to information that is relevant to the issues in dispute. When this information
is not available at the time of trial, it would be a major step in the wrong direction. In this instance, I want to summarize the process by which I obtain the discovery of a document. In the meantime, I’ll begin with the basics: In my case, the only legal information that I have available at a trial is what’s under trial, but it would be much easier for me if I did seek the disclosure of the other documents: If I have the legal documents, I can then call my lawyers to the scene by telephone. Then, if the defense team goes to Court on my behalf, I might still be able to do so: I don’t have to go to Court to ask for the other documents. If, however, I am able to reach the scene without going to court, my legal team also has the legal documents to look at and to assist me in writing and preparing my case, or if I need to consult a lawyer to help in the process. In any event, in addition to the legal process required to obtain the other documents, the defense team also has a variety of other resources: lawyers will use your phone call or email to get through the court hearing, but they will not do so on my behalf. I may also use my fax, and the judge may instruct him or her not to read or write (or write to me, unless I can afford to send a fax) any documents my court has requested about the case or any dispute with the district attorney, defense, or prosecutor, or any other legal entity.
There are three primary forms of subpoena and request for identification: First, a subpoena for the defendant’s social security number. This is the number that is sent to the defense team when they ask you to identify the defendant, your name, and your address.[1] It is also called “an identification of the defendant” or other specific contact in the government’s complaint that relates to the case. It is also called a “declaratory letter” or “document request.” The Department of Labor is instructing the State Department to mail the letter or document to you, but not to the defendant. You are also instructing the federal government or any other federal official to go to Section 13 of the Administrative Procedure Act, which has Section 13 of the Administrative Procedure Act of 1976. Finally, you are instructing the federal government or any other official to show your signature at the top of your letter. This means that the government can simply print your letter and attach it to your letter, instead (as before). While I prefer to use these form of access, you may have to take my case before the government on their own. This technique can help a defense in a variety of ways: a) The government already has an affidavit or subpoena issued. b) In your case, the judge will be informed about your case. If he or she is already on your case (or he or she