Glossary of Tort Law Terms

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Legal Glossaries Index

Damages: The financial compensation awarded to someone who suffered an injury or was harmed by someone else's wrongful act.

Debtor: Person who owes money.

Decision: The judgment rendered by a court after a consideration of the facts and legal issues before it.

Deed: A written legal document that describes a piece of property and outlines its boundaries. The seller of a property transfers ownership by delivering the deed to the buyer in exchange for an agreed upon sum of money.

Defamation: The publication of a statement that injures a person's reputation. Libel and slander are defamation.

Default Judgment: A ruling entered against a defendant who fails to answer a summons in a lawsuit.

Default: The failure to fulfill a legal obligation, such as neglecting to pay back a loan on schedule.

Defendant: In civil matters, the defendant is the person or organization that is being sued.

Defense Table: The table where the defense lawyer sits with the defendant in the courtroom.

Defined Benefit Plan: A type of retirement plan that specifies how much in benefits it will pay out to a retiree.

Deposition: Part of the pre-trial discovery (fact-finding) process in which a witness testifies under oath. A deposition is held out of court with no judge present, but the answers often can be used as evidence in the trial.

Direct Evidence: Evidence that stands on its own to prove an alleged fact, such as testimony of a witness who says she saw a defendant pointing a gun at a victim during a robbery.

Direct Examination: The initial questioning of a witness by the party that called the witness.

Directed Verdict: A judge's order to a jury to return a specified verdict, usually because one of the parties failed to prove its case.

Disbursements: Legal expenses that a lawyer passes on to a client, such as for photocopying, overnight mail and messenger services.

Discovery: Part of the pre-trial litigation process during which each party requests relevant information and documents from the other side in an attempt to "discover" pertinent facts.

Dismissal with Prejudice: When a case is dismissed for good reason and the plaintiff is barred from bringing an action on the same claim.

Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.

Double Jeopardy: Being tried twice for the same offense.

Due Process: The idea that laws and legal proceedings must be fair. The Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away a person's basic rights to "life, liberty or property, without due process of law." Courts have issued numerous rulings about what this means in particular cases.

Duty to Warn: The legal obligation to warn people of a danger. Typically, manufacturers of hazardous products have a duty to warn customers of a product's potential dangers and to advise users of any precautions they should take.