DeMayo Law Offices have provided you with a legal dictionary so that you can better understand some of the legal vocabulary used throughout our website and during your personal injury claim.
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Damages – Money payment recovered in the courts for an injury or loss caused by an unlawful act, omission, or negligence of another.
Death Benefits – Benefits paid to surviving dependents when a work injury results in death.
Decision – A determination made from a consideration of law and facts.
Declaratory Judgment – Judicial adjudication of the rights of the parties in a lawsuit made to clarify the parties’ legal positions.
Decree – Declaration of the court announcing the legal consequences of the facts found. See order, judgment.
Default Judgment – A judgment entered against a party who fails to appear in court or respond to the allegations.
Defective Product – A defective product is any product that causes you to suffer loss as the result of some defect, whether it is a design defect, manufacturing defect, or failure to warn.
Defendant – In civil law, the party defending a lawsuit ; the party against whom the plaintiff seeks to recover damages from.
Demurrer – Defendant’s claim that even if the allegations in a complaint are true, they are not sufficient enough to impose any liability on the defendant.
Denied Claim – A claim in which the insurance company does not believe that their insured is responsible and therefore denies your claim.
Deposition – Testimony of a witness taken under oath, but not in a courtroom. May be used to discover evidence prior to trial or to preserve testimony for use in court at a later time.
De Novo – A trial de novo is a new trial of a case.
Deponent – The person who testifies at a deposition.
Dicta – Plural of “obiter dictum.” A remark made by a judge in a legal opinion that is irrelevant to the decision and does not establish a precedent.
Direct Evidence – Generally, eyewitness evidence. Contrast with circumstantial evidence.
Direct Examination – The first questioning of witnesses by the party on whose behalf they are called.
Directed Verdict – Now called “Judgment as a Matter of Law.” An instruction by the judge to the jury to return a specific verdict.
Disability – In the legal sense, lack of legal capacity to perform some act. Used in a physical sense in connection with workers’ compensation acts and is a composite of (a) actual incapacity to perform employment tasks and the wage loss resulting there from and (b) physical bodily impairment which may or may not be incapacitating.
Discovery – The pretrial process by which one party discovers the evidence that will be relied upon in the trial by the opposing party.
Disfigurement – A technical term for a serious and permanent scar to the head, neck, or face.
Dismissal – The termination of a lawsuit. A dismissal without prejudice allows a lawsuit to be brought before the court again at a later time. In contrast, a dismissal with prejudice prevents the lawsuit from being brought before a court in the future.
Dismissal with Prejudice – Final judgment against the plaintiff which prohibits bringing an action on the same cause of action in the future. In contrast, “dismissal without prejudice” allows the plaintiff to sue again for the same cause of action.
Dispute – The disagreement or opposition of views or claims.
Doctrine of Avoidable Consequences or Mitigation of Damages – Imposes a duty on victims of a tort to take reasonable steps to minimize their damages after an injury has been inflicted.
Dram Shop – A drinking establishment where alcoholic beverages are served to be drunk on the premises.
Dram Shop Act – In North Carolina, this statute imposes liability on drinking establishments, like bars and restaurants, for harm resulting from the establishment’s service of alcohol to visibly intoxicated persons.
Due Process of Law – The right of all persons to receive the guarantees and safeguards of the law and the judicial process. It includes such constitutional requirements as adequate notice, assistance of counsel, and the rights to remain silent to a speedy and public trial, to an impartial jury, and to confront and secure witnesses.
Duty – In negligence cases, a “duty” is an obligation to conform to a particular standard of care. A failure to conform places, the actor at risk of being liable to another to whom a duty is owed for an injury sustained by the other of which the actor’s conduct is a legal cause. See reasonable man doctrine.
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