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Author: Lysander Lyon, MP
Sponsor: N/A
Type: Act of Parliament
Preamble: The judiciary has interpreted the two-parties clause for civil trials in the Constitution to mean that only two individuals, a Plaintiff and a Defendant, can be named in a civil trial. This requires legislative clarification.
1. Short Title
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the "Civil Suit Reform Act".
(b) This bill was authored by Lysander Lyon, MP.
2. The Clarification
(a) In court cases, a “class” shall be recognized as a singular party.
(b) Individuals may sue a class, or sue as a class, in civil trials.
(c) Individuals who wish to sue as a class, known as a class action lawsuit, must all be harmed similarly by the party they are suing (IE all harmed by negligence, all harmed by a specific product, etc.). This is known as a common characteristic.
(d) Individuals named as part of a class must have agreed to be part of the class, and must have all agreed to the same payout agreement that will be binding in the event of a win on behalf of the class. A class acting to sue a Defendant as the Plaintiff may only be represented by one legal entity.
(i) The agreement of every individual named as a part of the class to be part of the class, as well as their agreement to the payout agreement, must all be compiled into a document and handed in to the court with the filing.
(e) If an individual is suing a number of individuals and wants to sue them all as one class (for example, a group of tenants jointly broke a landlord’s rules), the individual will name each of them as part of the class being sued.
(f) The case structure for a lawsuit involving a class will have an extra three steps before opening arguments.
(i) First, if it is a class acting as the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff must prove there is a common characteristic among the class suing as it relates to the Defendant. The Defendant committed the same injury to each individual in the class, or the same action of the Defendant (or lack thereof, IE negligence) was the reason for the injury incurred by each individual. For example, a landlord blocking off the entrance to their apartment building would be an identical injury to each tenant in the building under the Protection of Tenants Act, and that would create a class.
(ii) The Defendant will be granted time to provide a rebuttal to the explanation of class, and then the third step is the judge ruling to certify the class or not to certify the class.
(iii) If the Defendant is a class, the Plaintiff must prove each individual mentioned as part of the class contributed to the specific loss or injury. For example, if five tenants all vandalize their own apartments, that is not a class, unless proof exists that it was a coordinated effort. If five tenants all vandalize the apartment building’s main lobby together, that would qualify as a class for legal purposes.
(iv) Members of the class with the same alleged form of contribution to the injury must agree on one lawyer. If a Defendant class consists of multiple entities that each contributed to the injury in uniquely different ways, members with different forms of contribution are each entitled to their own representation.
(v) In a case with multiple defense lawyers, the defense lawyers are only defending their specific client or clients. Thus, while the Plaintiff will address all points in their opening statement, and may call witnesses relating to the broader case or to specific harm caused by one of the members of the Defendant class, the defense lawyers are solely responsible for handling the case as it relates to their client. Evidence submitted by the Plaintiff during the discovery phase may be applied to all of the Defendant class, but the Plaintiff must specify which of the Defendants a witness called by the Plaintiff’s testimony shall refer to (it may be all of them). The judge shall not consider that witness’s testimony when deciding the guilt or damages of a member of the Defendant class who was not indicated as one of the Defendants it was being applied to.
(vi) The three interjected steps also apply to this case where a class is used.
Enactment: This Act comes into force immediately after passage.
Sponsor: N/A
Type: Act of Parliament
A
BILL
TO
Clarify the Civil Trials Provision of the Constitution
BILL
TO
Clarify the Civil Trials Provision of the Constitution
Preamble: The judiciary has interpreted the two-parties clause for civil trials in the Constitution to mean that only two individuals, a Plaintiff and a Defendant, can be named in a civil trial. This requires legislative clarification.
1. Short Title
(a) This bill shall be referred to as the "Civil Suit Reform Act".
(b) This bill was authored by Lysander Lyon, MP.
2. The Clarification
(a) In court cases, a “class” shall be recognized as a singular party.
(b) Individuals may sue a class, or sue as a class, in civil trials.
(c) Individuals who wish to sue as a class, known as a class action lawsuit, must all be harmed similarly by the party they are suing (IE all harmed by negligence, all harmed by a specific product, etc.). This is known as a common characteristic.
(d) Individuals named as part of a class must have agreed to be part of the class, and must have all agreed to the same payout agreement that will be binding in the event of a win on behalf of the class. A class acting to sue a Defendant as the Plaintiff may only be represented by one legal entity.
(i) The agreement of every individual named as a part of the class to be part of the class, as well as their agreement to the payout agreement, must all be compiled into a document and handed in to the court with the filing.
(e) If an individual is suing a number of individuals and wants to sue them all as one class (for example, a group of tenants jointly broke a landlord’s rules), the individual will name each of them as part of the class being sued.
(f) The case structure for a lawsuit involving a class will have an extra three steps before opening arguments.
(i) First, if it is a class acting as the Plaintiff, the Plaintiff must prove there is a common characteristic among the class suing as it relates to the Defendant. The Defendant committed the same injury to each individual in the class, or the same action of the Defendant (or lack thereof, IE negligence) was the reason for the injury incurred by each individual. For example, a landlord blocking off the entrance to their apartment building would be an identical injury to each tenant in the building under the Protection of Tenants Act, and that would create a class.
(ii) The Defendant will be granted time to provide a rebuttal to the explanation of class, and then the third step is the judge ruling to certify the class or not to certify the class.
(iii) If the Defendant is a class, the Plaintiff must prove each individual mentioned as part of the class contributed to the specific loss or injury. For example, if five tenants all vandalize their own apartments, that is not a class, unless proof exists that it was a coordinated effort. If five tenants all vandalize the apartment building’s main lobby together, that would qualify as a class for legal purposes.
(iv) Members of the class with the same alleged form of contribution to the injury must agree on one lawyer. If a Defendant class consists of multiple entities that each contributed to the injury in uniquely different ways, members with different forms of contribution are each entitled to their own representation.
(v) In a case with multiple defense lawyers, the defense lawyers are only defending their specific client or clients. Thus, while the Plaintiff will address all points in their opening statement, and may call witnesses relating to the broader case or to specific harm caused by one of the members of the Defendant class, the defense lawyers are solely responsible for handling the case as it relates to their client. Evidence submitted by the Plaintiff during the discovery phase may be applied to all of the Defendant class, but the Plaintiff must specify which of the Defendants a witness called by the Plaintiff’s testimony shall refer to (it may be all of them). The judge shall not consider that witness’s testimony when deciding the guilt or damages of a member of the Defendant class who was not indicated as one of the Defendants it was being applied to.
(vi) The three interjected steps also apply to this case where a class is used.
Enactment: This Act comes into force immediately after passage.