Rules of procedure and complications in lawsuits
Rules of criminal or
civil procedure govern the conduct of a lawsuit in the
common law adversarial system of dispute resolution. Procedural rules are additionally constrained/informed by separate
statutory laws, case law, and constitutional provisions that define the rights of the parties to a lawsuit (see especially
due process), though the rules will generally reflect this legal context on their face. The details of procedure differ greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and often from court to court within the same jurisdiction. The rules are very important for litigants to know, however, because they dictate the timing and progression of the lawsuit—what may be filed and when, to obtain what result. Failure to comply with the procedural rules may result in serious limitations upon the ability to present claims or defenses at any subsequent trial, or even dismissal of the lawsuit.
Though the majority of lawsuits are settled and never reach trial,
[3] they can be very complicated to litigate. This is particularly true in
federal systems, where a federal court may be applying state law (e.g., the
Eriedoctrine in the
United States) or vice versa, or one state applying the law of another, and where it additionally may not be clear which level (or location) of court actually has
jurisdiction over the claim or
personal jurisdiction over the defendant. For example, about 98 percent of civil cases in the
United States federal courts are resolved without a trial. Domestic courts are also often called upon to apply foreign law, or to act upon foreign defendants, over whom they may not, as a practical matter, even have the ability to enforce a judgment if the defendant's assets are outside their reach.
Lawsuits become additionally complicated as more parties become involved (see
joinder). Within a "single" lawsuit, there can be any number of claims and defenses (all based on numerous laws) between any number of plaintiffs or defendants, each of whom can bring any number of cross-claims and counterclaims against each other, and even bring additional parties into the suit on either side after it progresses. However, courts typically have some power to sever claims and parties into separate actions if it is more efficient to do so, such as if there is not a sufficient overlap of factual issues between the various associates.
