College Assignment

briman1983

Hey Guys a friends of mine has begged that I give him a hand with a project that he has for his college assignment, I did law before in college but forget everything at this stage. Was thinking the nice people on boards might be able to give him/me a helping hand.

It's a fictional case of someone getting assaulted during the coarse of their work and they wish to pursue legal action.

Can ye advise me of the following?

1) Is this criminal of civil law?

2) What court is likely to hear the case and why?

3) What steps should the person assaulted take to begin legal action

4) What will be the procedures in court be?

5) Will the suspect have any defences?

6) What might the outcome be?

Thanks in Advance Brian.

johnnyskeleton

briman1983 wrote: »

1) Is this criminal of civil law?

It can be both

briman1983 wrote: »

2) What court is likely to hear the case and why?

Really depends on the circumstances as the different courts have different jurisdictions to deal with the severity of each case.

briman1983 wrote: »

3) What steps should the person assaulted take to begin legal action

Why, contact a solicitor, of course. What an odd exam question.

briman1983 wrote: »

4) What will be the procedures in court be?

This depends on the circumstances - briefly, in a criminal case the prosecution makes their case and then the defence make their applications/defence case. In civil, sometimes paperwork needs to be filed first, then the plaintiff will get into court and make his case and then the defendant theirs. That is, assuming the defendant contests the matter.

briman1983 wrote: »

5) Will the suspect have any defences?

The plaintiff/defendant might have a defence, depending on the cirucmstances

briman1983 wrote: »

6) What might the outcome be?

Assuming all proceedural and jurisdictional issues are dealt with and the case is presented at its best...then it really depends on the cirucmstances.

briman1983

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

It can be both

Can you explain a little more as to why?

Tom Young

There is a distinct delineation between the two.

Criminal Law deals with Criminal matters purely (e.g., Criminal Justice issues: Muder, Rape etc.) and Civil Law deals with Civil Matters purely (e.g., Family, Land, Contract, Administrative, Tort Law's etc.).

In relation to the assignment the client could decide to pursue a case in either field. Civil or Criminal, obviously a criminal matter would require the police and interventions etc. A civil assault is dealt with under Tort law.

dermot_sheehan

briman1983 wrote: »

Hey Guys a friends of mine has begged that I give him a hand with a project that he has for his college assignment, I did law before in college but forget everything at this stage. Was thinking the nice people on boards might be able to give him/me a helping hand.

It's a fictional case of someone getting assaulted during the coarse of their work and they wish to pursue legal action.

Can ye advise me of the following?

1) Is this criminal of civil law?

2) What court is likely to hear the case and why?

3) What steps should the person assaulted take to begin legal action

4) What will be the procedures in court be?

5) Will the suspect have any defences?

6) What might the outcome be?

Thanks in Advance Brian.

Since it's them pursuing legal action then it would be civil, as although someone can take a private prosecution in the district court this is quite rare and unusal, nearly all criminal prosecutions are taken by or in the name of the DPP.

First thing is since this is a personal injury, the claim needs to be assessed by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. Assuming the defendent does not assent to the claim being assessed or the plaintiff rejects the award the board will issue its authorisation and the case can then proceed to court.


The court depends on the damage that was suffered from the assault. Generally damages up to €6,300 in tort are heard by the District Court, up to €38,000 by the Circuit Court and €38,000 upwards by the High Court. Bearing in mind this happened in the work place, I assume the plaintiff will claim that their employment suffered as a result so it's probably circuit court jurisdiction. Also to note as a matter of tactics, if the case were taken in the High Court it would be heard by a jury who would also assess damages. A jury may be more skeptical of certain assault claims but tend to be more generous then judges in damages.

If you take the case in too low a court, you will only get the maximum damages of that courts jurisdiction. If you take it in too high a court and win but get damages that are less then that court's jurisdiction, you only get costs for the court of appropriate jurisdiction and may have to pay the differance in the other sides costs between if it was taken in the appropriate court, and the court it was taken in.


To begin the case, the plaintiff's solicitor gets a barrister to draft, and the solicitor then takes it to the court office to get stamped and the solicitor then serves an originating document. As this is a Personal Injuries case, it would be a Personal Injuries Summons for the High, Circuit and District Court. If it was a different type of legal case a different originating document would be used.


The procedure is first pleadings, i.e. PI summons, then PI defence, then notice for particulars (i.e. get better information about what is alelged in summons or defence), then perhaps discovery (inspect documents avaibable to other side, exchange of expert medical reports pursuant to requirements of SI 391 if its in high court)

case is then set down for trial, trial goes ahead and judgement.

settlement talks may also take place at any time.

after judgement, there coudl be appeals.



defences depend on the facts of the case

johnnyskeleton

gabhain7 wrote: »

First thing is since this is a personal injury, the claim needs to be assessed by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. Assuming the defendent does not assent to the claim being assessed or the plaintiff rejects the award the board will issue its authorisation and the case can then proceed to court.

It will be rejected by PIAB under s.17 because it's a trespass to the person.

dermot_sheehan

s. 17 only gives piab a discretion to reject, since however its "a relevent claim", an authorisation and PI summons still need to be used