Filtered by Tag: constitutional law

Comments on Recent Cases: October 2026

Some plaintiffs file so many motions that courts recognize these are unreasonable. Often, such plaintiffs are representing themselves. In that case, a court may grant a motion that prohibits the party from filing anything further without the court’s permission. This motion relieves a defendant of the burden of responding to every single filing of a nuisance litigant.

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Comments on Recent Cases: June 2026

Defendants in litigation often cite the statute of limitations to argue that the court should dismiss a claim because the plaintiff waited too long before asserting it. But applying time limits to claims is not always straightforward.
As we saw in the prior case, employment discrimination plaintiffs usually have a list of events about which they complain in litigation. While each of the events could support a discrimination clam, some of them may still be excluded from a lawsuit for being too distant if they are not tightly linked to actions within the time limit for filing a claim.
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Comments on Recent Cases: May 2026

Defamation claims can be difficult to prove. This is because the law protects statements of opinion from litigation, and a qualified privilege often applies that shields statements from liability unless the plaintiff can establish the defendant made the statement maliciously. These legal shields do not prevent the cost and burden of litigation altogether.
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Comments on Recent Cases: April 2026

Since litigation is burdensome and expensive, parties can make agreements to limit their own exposure to a lawsuit. Courts will enforce “no action” clauses, putting obstacles to the commencement of a lawsuit, even when they protect non-parties to the agreement.
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Comments on Recent Cases: March 2026

People are understandably upset when others say false things about them, and they may consider defamation litigation. When false statements arise in a public process, such as in city records or in court, the lies may do more damage than they would have in a less official forum. The subject of those statements may therefore feel a greater desire to sue. But common-interest privilege protects certain types of statements.
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Comments on Recent Cases: February 2026

When a court orders someone to appear for a deposition, the person must appear or get another court order to the contrary. The penalty for disobeying the order to appear, however, can vary. For witnesses who decline to appear, the penalty may be monetary. For parties to the lawsuit, the court may rule the person who failed to appear must lose, but that is not always the case.
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More Hearsay and Foundation Objections

At trial, technical rules dictate what evidence is admissible and what evidence is not. Not only does this require lawyers to do a lot of work before trial to make sure their evidence is admitted, but it could baffle some people about why some great evidence wasn’t included.
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Not Worth It

The things that motivate some people to litigate are not always the things that the law is intended to fix. The law is set up to provide judgments to plaintiffs that allow them to collect assets from defendants pursuant to specific legal theories. Often, people just want to sue because something bad happened to them, regardless of whether a legal theory attaches liability to a particular defendant, regardless of the cost of the suit compared to the amount of financial damage, and regardless of whether that defendant has enough available assets to pay.
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More Thoughts on Arbitration

There are several reasons why parties may choose arbitration over litigation. One reason is efficiency: arbitrations tend to move faster than court proceedings. This is because arbitrators often have lighter caseloads than judges and because they have the flexibility to skip various formalities. Also arbitration usually does not permit appeals, which saves the parties the costs of an appeal.
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Malpractice Litigation

Even though these issues are complex and are debated by experts, ultimately a malpractice claim may have a lay judge or jury that decides the facts. A judge or jury with no expert training at all may weigh the evidence and the credibility and reliability of the experts and decide whom to believe on professional standards and whether the defendant violated them. This is, understandably, an unpredictable process, which is why many cases have pressure to settle before trial. Judges, however, may dismiss malpractice claims before trial on summary judgment if in their opinion, the plaintiff has not offered sufficient evidence. Judges are experts in law, but they can’t be experts in every field. The outcome is unpredictable.
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More Thoughts on Cross Examination at Trial

Sometimes during cross-examination, things don’t go as planned. The witness may give a bad answer or the judge may cut off a line of questioning even though the lawyer really wanted to continue it. In those events, a lawyer is usually best served by remaining calm. Acting like these are huge losses may communicate to others that even the lawyer thinks their case is in bad shape. And while those losses are scary in the moment, a trial often has numerous opportunities for each side to make its case.
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Litigation in the Bahamas

In the Bahamas, it is not difficult for litigants to attend court proceedings remotely if they cannot travel to the island where the hearing is taking place. Further, the Supreme Court has permanent judges and registries on both New Providence and Grand Bahama. The country includes over 700 islands.
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Litigation in the British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands is an Overseas Territory of the UK, but is not ‘part’ of the UK. Each Overseas Territory is its own jurisdiction but is not a sovereign state. The BVI court system is very similar to the UK system. The BVI is part of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) – which acts as the court for nine English Common Law jurisdictions and territories in the Eastern Caribbean. Each of the nine has its own High Court registry with in the ECSC, and appeals go to the ECSC of Appeal – which sits in the BVI three times a year (and more often if required). There is a final appeal to the Privy Council in London – the Privy Council comprises members of the UK final court of appeal.
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Litigation in Guatemala

Guatemala is known for its natural beauty, architecture, and strategic position withing Latin America, which led to the current development of its Interoceanic Corridor. While its tropical climate is one of its great attractions for many, the Guatemalan legal system shares the strengths and weaknesses of most of Latin America.
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Litigation in Singapore

The Singapore Courts deal with a high volume of all sorts of commercial disputes. The Singapore International Commercial Court specialises in international commercial disputes and streamlines complex cases with informed judges. The panel of judges in this court is populated by international judges sitting with local judges. Other areas can be just as focused, with the judges hearing cases within their domain expertise.
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Litigation in Uruguay

Unlike common-law systems where paying the other party’s legal fees helps limit unnecessary litigation, each party pays its own legal fees in Uruguay. There are two exceptions: judgment enforcements and egregious behavior.
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