Civil legal disputes encompass a broad variety of situations and can be resolved via a range of methods. This can be from child neglect in family law resulting in foster care to monetary compensation for a breach of contract.
Because of this variety, it’s important to understand civil law more thoroughly before pursuing any big decisions. You’ll want to find out exactly how civil legal dispute lawyers can help and what sorts of resolutions they can help you reach before choosing one. This will ensure that you use the most appropriate lawyer to reach the fairest decision.
What Are Civil Disputes?
Before explaining how civil dispute lawyers can help you, it’s important that you understand exactly what civil disputes are because they’re very different from criminal law. A civil dispute is essentially any private case where one party is seeking recompense for a scenario that’s occurred outside of criminal law.
In criminal law, the government prosecutes a person for violating a criminal statute with imprisonment or a fine as the punishment. In contrast, civil legal disputes are made by an individual who can choose to settle the dispute as they please, even by avoiding court altogether.
Because civil disputes are between two parties, they can encompass a broad variety of issues and they can be settled in many ways. The rest of this guide will outline exactly what areas are applicable to civil legal disputes, where you’ll need a lawyer, and how these conflicts are often resolved.
Breach of Contract
Contrary to popular belief, a ‘contract’ doesn’t need to be a written document for it to have been breached. A breach can also be over a verbal or ‘implied’ term or article of contract. When pursuing this type of civil law litigation, you’ll need to prove three things: that there was a contract in the first place, that the other party didn’t satisfy or comply with this contract, and that this resulted in a loss on your behalf.
A breach of contract can occur when:
● The work completed is defective or unsatisfactory
● A party refuses to perform their duties
● Being late to services without having a reasonable excuse
● Failing to deliver goods or services
● A due isn’t paid where it should’ve been
If your contract has been breached, you can aim for a repudiation where the contract is terminated and compensation is sought. ‘Damages’ are what put the claimant back in the position they would’ve been in prior to the breach of contract. They can be ‘special' whereby the loss is quantifiable, like the loss of money, or ‘general’ where the loss is unquantifiable, like a late finish.
Landlord and Tenant Disputes
As a landlord, you’ll likely come across some tricky tenants at some point. Likewise, as a tenant, it’s important to know your rights and to seek legal advice if you believe that these have been breached. Either way, disputes between landlords and tenants are common.
The kinds of issues where you’ll want a civil disputes solicitor could be for:
● Termination of your tenancy (including forfeiture and possession)
● Disputes over how your property is managed
● Rent arrears and rent disputes
● What obligations you have in your lease or tenancy agreement
● Service charge disputes
● Landlord and tenant responsibilities and obligations to each other
As a landlord, resolutions may come in the form of an eviction, withholding a deposit, or pursuing the matter in a Housing and Property Chamber (First Tier Tribunal). As a tenant, resolutions may include reasonable compensation and an order to fulfil obligations.
Injunctions or Interdicts
An injunction or an interdict is a civil court order that prohibits a person from doing a specific act or that requires them to do something in particular. These include:
● To prevent abusive behaviour or trespassing
● To prevent the publication of defamatory, confidential, or inaccurate information
● For use in commercial disputes
● Imposing a restraining order
Failing to comply with injunctions or interdicts can result in monetary compensation and even imprisonment. This party can also be charged with contempt of court as they’ll have ignored a civil court order which is an offence in and of itself.
Neighbour Disputes
Neighbour disputes are stressful situations to be in because you have no option but to live in close quarters with the party you’re in conflict with. This is particularly the case when your neighbour is behaving in an intimidating, irrational, or even abusive manner.
For these reasons, you’ll want to speak to a civil disputes lawyer who’ll be able to help you with:
● Japanese knotweed issues
● Antisocial behaviour
● Fence disputes
● Land disputes
● Building and construction disputes
● Noise intrusion
An option you could pursue if the situation gets particularly bad is to involve the council over a ASBO. This term encompasses a range of issues that negatively impact a person’s health or quality of life.
Family Law
Even though family law is technically a part of civil law, there are rules and court forms that are specific to this type of law. Regardless, family law civil disputes are pursued when an intimate relationship breaks down to the detriment of a party, and often childcare matters are closely entwined in this breakdown.
The most common reasons people seek a civil disputes lawyer are:
● Divorce and dissolution
● Property rights after separation
● Domestic abuse
● Marriage and civil partnership
● Sexual abuse
● Child neglect, abuse, and protection
● Foster care and adoption
Because these encompass a very broad range of issues, from abuse to marriage, resolutions similarly vary depending on the prosecution. This is especially the case where one prosecution leads to another, as is the case with domestic abuse, child abuse, and child neglect, and sexual abuse leading to foster care and adoption. Another example is divorce and dissolution leading to property rights after separation.
Civil Legal Disputes encompass a huge variety of issues and conflicts. They equally lead to a broad range of resolutions. What’s important is that you have an idea of how you’d like to be recompensed and that you seek legal advice based on this. Doing this sooner rather than later will give you a head start in the legal process as well.
Contact DJP Solicitors for Legal Advice
If you’ve found yourself searching ‘solicitors near me’ then you need DJP Solicitors! We’ve been providing professional advice for over 10 years and our expert team of lawyers can handle matters ranging from employment law to family law, to tenancy disputes and evictions. Our aim is to help you reach a satisfactory resolution as efficiently and with as little hassle as possible.
If you have any further questions about civil legal disputes, or if you’d like to discuss how we can be of assistance to you, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us by calling 01224 590 053 today!
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