Lessons · Law foundations · what each side is called
Who is who, and why the words change as the case moves
In a civil case the side that starts it is the plaintiff and the side answering is the defendant; in a criminal case the state's side is the prosecution and the person charged is the defendant.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Every document in the file is addressed to a named side, and the caption at the top of the first page is copied onto everything after it. Get the sides the wrong way round in that caption and the whole file inherits the mistake, including the papers a court reads first.
How to think about it
Read the caption. The name before v. started the case; the name after it is answering. Then ask what stage the case has reached, because the words change when it moves up.
Worked example
Caption: Ramos v. Delgado FreightTwo names, one v. between them, and the order carries the information.
Ramos started it, so Ramos is the plaintiff.Some offices and some courts say claimant for the same person. Both name the side that started it.
Delgado Freight is answering, so Delgado Freight is the defendant.The word is the same in a civil claim and in a criminal charge: the side that has to answer.
Ramos loses and takes it up: Ramos is now the appellant.The case has not changed sides; it has changed courts, and the words follow the court.
Your turn
Ramos appeals and Delgado Freight answers the appeal. Write the word for the side answering an appeal.
Side answering the appeal:
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Assuming the plaintiff is always the one who appeals. Either side can lose something worth appealing, so the appellant is whoever filed the appeal, which is often the party who was the defendant a page earlier.