Hastings & Gartin

Civil Litigation

Overview

Civil Litigation

Civil law pertains to the rights of private individuals and legal proceedings concerning these rights. These litigation cases are generally disputes between people regarding the legal duties and responsibilities they owe each other (i.e. Property Disputes, Employment Law, etc.).

Breach of Contract Disputes

Education Law 

Employment Law

Both federal and state governments have enacted a wide range of employment laws protecting employees from discriminatory treatment, unfair labor practices, unsafe work conditions, and more. This section provides in-depth resources on all phases of the employment process — from the interview and hiring stage to promotion and termination. In addition, you'll find information about privacy in the workplace, wage and hour laws, workplace safety, and family leave policies.

Personal Injury

Personal injury law involves injury which is caused accidentally by another's failure to use reasonable care. The definition of reasonable care is determined on a case-by-case basis. A person may be liable for the injury caused through negligent or reckless action. The injury to the plaintiff must be caused by and be a foreseeable result of the defendant's action. Some of the defenses to liability for personal injury include intervening causes, pre-existing condition, and assumption of the risk.

Types of personal injury lawsuits brought include injury and wrongful death cases arising from automobile, bike and pedestrian collisions, trucking accidents, and other forms of negligence. A successful plaintiff in a personal injury suit may recover damages for medical expenses, property damage, emotional distress, pain and suffering, loss of consortium or companionship, lost wages, costs and attorney fees, and lost future earnings.

Our firm represents clients after motor vehicle accidents to negotiate with insurance companies and the other party. These negotiations can help determine who may be at fault, and assist parties in receiving compensation for lost work or injuries.

Property Litigation

Real property or real estate litigation encompasses a wide variety of matters arising out of or related to interests in real property. Real estate litigation sometimes involves a subset of contract law because basic real estate transactions involve contracts. Disputes sometimes arise because a contract may be open to interpretation or one of the parties may fail to perform his or her obligations. Furthermore, many real property disputes that have to do with damage to the property or the land may require further investigation to determine the actual cause of the damage. Our experience in inverse condemnation law helps us assist clients effectively in such situations.

Housing Discrimination

The legal concept of fair housing holds that no one should suffer unequal treatment in housing decisions based on a protected characteristic such as race, or disability. Anyone who treats an individual unequally in a housing decision based on one of these characteristics has likely engaged in housing discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

The federal Fair Housing Act and the Fair Housing Amendments Act (42 U.S. Code §§ 3601-3619, 3631) forbid discrimination of tenants or prospective tenants because of a disability or the disability of a person associated with them. The law protects the following people:

  • A person with a mental or physical disability that substantially limits a person's ability to perform one or more major life activities; or

  • A person that has a record of the disability; or

  • A person that is considered by others as having the disability

Types of protected disabilities include mobile, visual, and hearing impairments, mental retardation, alcoholism (if being treated in a recovery program), drug addiction (not caused by the use of an illegal controlled substance), mental illness, and HIV/AIDS.

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