Appeal: The process for requesting a higher court to review and formally make a change to an official legal decision. The appellate court is the higher court who reviews the lower court's decision, often a state supreme court.

 

Asbestos: A fibrous mineral used as insulation in buildings before it was banned in the 1980s. Individuals exposed to asbestos have been known to develop lung cancer, including mesothelioma, and other severe respiratory illnesses.

 

All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV): A term that describes small, open buggy or tricycle motorized vehicles that typically operate off-road in rural areas.

 

Both child-size and adult-size ATVs have come under scrutiny for the hazard they pose because of their high speeds and lack of exterior protection.

 

Civil rights: A name given to a group of rights possessed by all citizens granted and protected by the U.S. Constitution. In civil law, civil rights may refer to laws governing equality of race and gender that are violated by discrimination or may refer to more general rights of citizens that are violated by police brutality, wrongful arrest, hate crimes or interference with access to health care, just to name a few examples.

 

Civil law allows individuals whose civil rights have been violated to file a lawsuit against private companies as well as government agencies in order to recover damages as well as to potentially modify practices that infringe on civil rights.

 

Civil Law: A branch of law governing disputes between individuals and/or corporations, in which compensation may be awarded to one or more parties. For the purpose of civil law, corporations take on the legal status of individuals.

 

Civil law is distinct from criminal law, and a civil action may not necessarily preclude a criminal action.

 

Class-action lawsuit: A lawsuit filed by a plaintiff or plaintiffs on behalf of themselves and all individuals similarly identifiable as part of a group with the plaintiffs.

 

Class-action lawsuits are most frequently filed to make a company responsible for liability of its products, such as defective drugs or faulty products that cause injury or sickness.

 

Compensatory damages: Money awarded to a plaintiff in a civil court case for actual economic losses.

 

In some states, compensatory damages may cover only actual economic losses, like medical bills and lost income. In others, compensatory damages may include compensation for things like pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.

 

Damages: The amount of money awarded to the plaintiff in a civil court case. Money may be awarded for compensatory damages and punitive damages.

 

Defendant: in a civil court of law, the party against whom the civil lawsuit has been filed.

 

Discrimination: Unequal and unfair treatment of individuals based on race, sex, age, marital status, religion or any other factor in consideration for employment, housing, arrest and other. Civil rights laws may allow legal recourse for violations of these rights by discrimination in many cases.

 

Dram shop laws: A state law that makes drinking establishments, such as bars and restaurants, legally liable for damage done by intoxicated individuals who were visibly intoxicated and served at these establishments.

 

Many states in the U.S., including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Missouri and Massachusetts, have dram shop laws that are intended to curb drunk drivers. Some states include hosts of a party where alcohol is served in the same category as establishments such as bars and restaurants.

 

Due Diligence: In tort law, the effort made by a prudent or reasonable party to avoid or prevent harm to another party. If the party is determined in court not to have acted with due diligence, that party may be considered negligent.

 

Excessive force: A phrase often used with the legal and criminal term police brutality to describe the use of physical force, assault, as well as threats and other verbal force used by police and other law enforcement officers in subduing an alleged criminal.

 

Excited Delirium: A term used to describe a state of physiological agitation leading to death that most often occurs during arrest or in police custody, typically also involving use of illegal substances. It may be listed on an autopsy of a death involving Taser use.

 

Taser International advocates the use of the term as the cause of any death involving use of Tasers, though the medical evidence supporting their claims is company-funded and therefore questionable.

 

Hate Crime: A crime committed against another individual specifically to cause harm due to prejudice over race, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or another factor.

 

Civil rights laws may allow legal recourse for hate crimes in which another party contributed to acts or omissions involved in the hate crime.

 

Hazardous Exposure: Physical contact with toxic agents or proximity to airborne agents, such as hazardous chemicals, natural gas, mold, lead, asbestos, hazardous waste materials or other agents potentially harmful to health.

 

Liability for hazardous exposure may be possessed by numerous parties, including but not limited to the manufacturer of a product that causes or contributes to hazardous exposure, such as a product containing lead-based paint; the company responsible for manufacture or installation, as may be the case with a home product such as asbestos, or the owner or manager of a building that contains hazardous agents, such as a landlord or employer.

 

Hit and Run: A type of automobile accident in which the person responsible for a collision with a person, personal property or another vehicle leaves the scene of the accident without declaring himself.

 

Injuring another's personal property or person in an automobile accident may make you liable to repay damages based on your state's laws. Criminal laws are often harsher with hit-and-run offenders than with others liable for automobile accidents.