Who is plaintiff vs a defendant

Since plaintiff and defendant are both legal terms, it can be confusing to remember the difference between them. Fortunately, there is an easy trick to remember plaintiff vs. As long as you can remember the origin of these legal words, you should always be able to remember what they mean. Is it defendant or plaintiff? Plaintiff and defendant are legal words.

They refer to the accusing and the accused parties, respectively, in court cases. If you have any future trouble remember the meaning of plaintiff or defendant , you can check back with this article for reference. The name following the "v" is the defendant. If the case is appealed, as in this example, the name of the petitioner appellant is usually listed first, and the name of the respondent appellee is listed second.

If the defendant in the trial court case brings an appeal, the defendant's name may be listed first in the appellate case. If you see an incomplete citation such as U. United States Reports S. Supreme Court Reporter L. How can you distinguish the plaintiff from the defendant just by looking at a complaint or hearing a case name?

The plaintiff is generally named first in the case caption and the defendant is named second. So, how are you supposed to remember which party is the plaintiff and which is the defendant? One of the critical differences between a plaintiff and defendant in a civil case is that the plaintiff is generally charged with the burden of proving the allegations.

There are a couple of common situations where the parties involved in a civil lawsuit are referred to something other than plaintiff and defendant. Read more about how to choose the right lawyer for your case. Learn how to get ahead in your studies and the career field, as well be a guest contributor to our blog and apply for one of our scholarships. Dramatic increase in web traffic Genuine competitive advantage Guaranteed territory protection. Home Personal Injury Law Plaintiff vs.

Defendant — Learn the Difference. The plaintiff is a person or entity that files a lawsuit. The lawsuit includes a complaint and a summons which must be filed in the appropriate court.

The defendant the person or entity that is being sued. These can be anything from personal injury claims to negligence, to breach of contract, and family law cases. In criminal cases, the person charged is still referred to as the defendant.

However, the term plaintiff is replaced by complainant in most cases. So, one can identify the parties by looking at the case name. A simple way to remember the difference between the two terms is that defendant has the word defend in it. So, defendants must defend or be defended against any wrongdoing. Both cases gained tremendous media attention where both defendants were acquitted of the murder charges they faced at trial.

The term plaintiff, is related to the verb complain.