HIV AIDS Resource Guide/HIV-AIDS Resource Guide.iso/STAT/NEWS/INTRO.ASC

Text File | 1994-01-14 | 9KB | 186 lines

In this file, we have information about how to read court
decisions that is definitely useful for nonprofessionals, and may
help those with legal training as well. We have a separate
definitions file.

This program is intended for use by attorneys, government
officials, businesspersons, educators, health care workers, those
with AIDS-- many different groups. This file will especially help
orient those who are not legally trained but is worth the few
minutes it will take to read for everyone.

1. EDITORIAL NEUTRALITY-- Do not assume that our comments are in
support of any particular ideology. Comments begin with /* and
end with */ and are not a part of the official opinion. Those who
have attended law school might find the comments to be similar to
discussions of cases in law classes. For example, we may
criticize the reasoning within a particular case. Often we will
state that a particular argument is unconvincing. This is done as
a suggestion only for litigants and lawyers and reflects an
opinion, or alerts persons to the counter-arguments related to a
particular theory. But that does not imply that we have any
opinion on the ruling itself. These comments are offered as
guides to reading for non-lawyers, or, offered to attorneys for
their consideration in preparing their arguments. REPEAT- this
service is one of journalism, not advocacy. Do not assume that
any comment is meant as a political one or indicative of what the
staff may believe personally.

2. WHAT COURT? Let's have a quick civics course in the
organization of the court system.

A. Federal courts-- The lowest level of federal court is the US
District Court. US District Judges usually preside, but not
always. Some cases are referred totally or partially to US
Magistrate Judges. Unlike US District Judges, Magistrates are not
life tenured appointees, and thus can only hear cases either if
their actions are not "case dispositive" or with the parties
consent. Appeals are almost always taken to Court of Appeals,
which are referred to as "the First Circuit" etc. There are 13
districts, each of which has a particular geographic area to
cover. District Courts SHOULD always follow opinions of the
Circuit that hears their appeals. If there is a split between
Circuits, allegedly the US Supreme Court should hear the matter.
There are other federal courts, but do not usually hear civil
cases such as most of those in this service. The US Supreme Court
is the court of last resort. Under some circumstances state court
decisions can be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

B. Military courts- Each services have summary and full courts
martial and appeals courts.

C. State courts- The names of courts within the states are often
guess work. Typically trial courts are called "County Courts,"
"District Courts" or "Circuit Courts." Appeals courts are usually
named "Court of Appeals," "Appeals division" or "Supreme Court."
There are still some states, Georgia for example, that do not
have a uniform court system. Therefore, every county has
different courts as set by state law. Generally, except for
California and New York, all opinions that are reported are from
appeals courts. The name of the Court usually gives some hint of
what it is-- when this is not true, we point this out in our
comments.

Be sure when reading a case to consider if it is an appeals court
or trial court case.


4. GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR REVIEW OF CASES- In reviewing a case
look out for these factors.

Date of the decision- Cases brought at the beginning of public
awareness of the AIDS crisis rely on what was known to medical
science at that time. The exact means of infection were not
agreed upon (and in some cases are still not agreed upon) and
courts often grappled with they thought were life and death
decisions without a great deal of certainty from medical experts.
The date of a decision is also important, since many states have
passed comprehensive aids laws. Decisions prior to the effective
date of the law are not precedent for cases decided under the law
in effect before the AIDS specific laws.

Stage of the litigation- A court may render an opinion at many
different stages of a case. Be sure to look for a statement of
the "standard of review" applicable to the case at that time.
Usually the court will state the standard of review for each
point that it considers. The standard of review is different from
stage to stage.

Courts only grant temporary restraining orders rarely because
there is a very high burden of proof to obtain such relief.

At trial the plaintiff has the burden of proof, usually to a
preponderance of evidence (greater weight, that is 50% plus 1
feather). Therefore it is easier for the plaintiff to win a case
at trial that for purposes of a pre-trial injunction.

An appeal will usually be reviewed with a presumption of
correctness.

If an issue is decided before trial for the purpose of a motion,
one party or the other may have the burden of proof, and the
burden of proof may be much different.

If a court is reviewing the legal sufficiency of a complaint, the
court has to accept that the allegations of fact are true.
However, if a plaintiff moves for summary judgment, all
inferences will be held against the plaintiff.

What kind of case is being decided?

Special rules apply to child custody cases, to injunction cases
and to cases brought under statutory authority.


5. What about the case I heard about on TV last month? Why isn't
it here?

There are regular media reports about HIV related cases. However,
many of these cases never make it into law reporters. To complete
this program, manual and computer searches were made of numerous
law reporters.

The backbone of all case related legal research is the National
Reporter System, published by West Publishing Company. This
includes collections of cases from state and federal courts. In
some states, like Florida, West's reports are the official
reporter for the state. Other states publish their own reports.
Numerous companies publish specialized reporters. All of these
sources were reviewed. However, the fact is that only a very
small fraction of cases ever have any part thereof collected and
printed. Nevertheless, the program contains virtually all
reported cases about HIV law.

Most civil cases are settled before trial. In this case, unless
the court made any significant pre-trial rulings, you might not
find any opinions explaining the reasons for an order reading the
court file. Indeed, most court orders are very short, and are
prepared by the lawyers and then submitted to the Judge. These
orders are as illuminating as:

This cause came on to be considered on the Defendant's Motion to
Dismiss Counts II and III of the Eighteenth Amended Complaint,
and the Court having considered the matter, IT IS ORDERED that
the Motion is denied.

Litigants usually keep all settlement terms private, so, the only
opinion may be on a pre-trial motion. Thereafter, the parties got
some idea of where the case was heading and worked it out.

Most state court Judges are so overwhelmed with work that they do
not write explanatory opinions on their own for cases, sometimes
for periods of years at a time. Other state court Judges write
opinions on anything and everything. However, only a small
fraction are ever printed.

Many orders in federal district court cases are never submitted
for publication.

In fact, federal and state appeal courts often mark opinions as
"DO NOT PUBLISH" and then even other litigants are barred from
using the opinion. With the federal reporter now graduating from
1000 Fed.2d to 1 Fed.3d, it's no wonder that Judges do not want
everything they write to be printed.

Fairly significant cases, if appealed, may result in a per curiam
opinion such as the famous, "they can fit on a post card
opinions" like:

AFFIRMED

REVERSED

Therefore it is very possible for cases that are mentioned in the
media to be resolved without there being any record of why and
for how much. Over time, we will include opinions in cases that
are not regularly reported. Attorneys and Judges may send
opinions or pleadings to us and we will be pleased to publish
them in updates to the extent of space available.

In collecting cases for this, the baseline edition, we tried to
develop a sense of which cases were the most important, the best
written and the most informative.

Please feel free to suggest other cases for inclusion in future
versions.