legal word of the day: A RETAINER

legal word of the day: A RETAINER

A RETAINER: A) a fee to secure services or B) a recurring (e.g. monthly) payment

A) A RETAINER: wstępne honorarium (the fee that the client pays when employing an attorney = the client retains an attorney to act for him and thereby prevents the attorney from acting for an adversary)

B) TO HAVE A LAWYER ON (A) RETAINER – współpracować na stałe z adwokatem/prawnikiem, płacąc mu stałą miesięczną opłatę (to pay a lawyer a small amount on a regular basis and, in return, have the lawyer perform some legal services whenever needed)

TO RETAIN A LAWYER – wynająć adwokata, prawnika (to hire a lawyer)

AN ADVERSARY – przeciwnik (here: the opposing party)

(1) A retainer used to refer to money paid to an attorney simply to secure the services of the attorney in case they were needed in the future. The attorney may or may not have done any work even though he or she was paid the retainer. But by receiving the retainer, the attorney agreed not to take on any work that could conflict with that of the client paying the retainer.

(2) Although I sometimes lament having to authorize the payment on the monthly invoice, I consider our company lucky to have a very impressive Biglaw partner on retainer from a nationally known Biglaw firm.

BIGLAW – najpotężniejsze kancelarie prawnicze (the collective nickname for the world's biggest and most successful law firms: they employ a significant number of attorneys, usually 100 or more; their lawyers typically enjoy some of the best salaries in the industry; they recruit from the top law schools in the country; maintain a national or global presence, often with multiple offices across the country or around the world)

(3) Someone pays the lawyer to be on retainer so that they can consult with them whenever they want/often. This is cheaper than paying the lawyer each time the person needs legal advice. Normally this is only done for companies or people with a lot of wealth.

(4)

MIKE: How much do you charge?

REGGIE: I don’t know. What kind of case is it?

MIKE: What kind of cases do you take?

REGGIE: Mostly cases involving abused or neglected children. Some abandoned children. Lots of adoptions. A few medical malpractice cases involving infants. But mainly abuse cases. I get some pretty bad cases.

MIKE: Good, because this is a really bad one. One person is dead. One is in the hospital. The police and FBI want to talk to me.

REGGIE: Look, Mark I assume you don’t have a lot of money to hire me, do you?

MIKE: No.

REGGIE: Technically, you’re supposed to pay me something as a retainer, and once this is done I’m your lawyer and we’ll go from there. Do you have a dollar?

MIKE: Yes.

REGGIE: Then why don’t you give it to me as a retainer?

MIKE: This is all I’ve got.

REGGIE: Okay now I’m the lawyer and you’re the client. Let’s hear the story.

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE – błąd w sztuce lekarskiej (improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional)

CHILD ABUSE/ CHILD MALTREATMENT – krzywdzenie/maltretowanie dziecka (physical, sexual, or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or other caregiver)

PHYSICAL CHILD ABUSE – przemoc fizyczna wobec dziecka

ABUSED CHILDREN – dzieci krzywdzone/ maltretowane

NEGLECTED CHILDREN – zaniedbane dzieci (children whose basic needs are not met; child neglect is a form of child abuse; it occurs when a person who is responsible for the child fails to care for the minor’s emotional or physical needs; neglect involves not meeting children's basic needs: physical, medical, educational, and emotional)

ABUSE CASES – sprawy krzywdzenia/maltretowania np. dzieci/ kobiet

http://fdds.pl/baza_wiedzy/krzywdzenie-dziecka-ang-child-abuse-child-maltreatment/

http://fdds.pl/baza_wiedzy/przemoc-fizyczna-wobec-dziecka-ang-physical-child-abuse/

this or that: CONCURRING OPINION vs DISSENTING OPINION

this or that: CONCURRING OPINION vs DISSENTING OPINION

CONCURRING OPINION – “I agree but for a different reason”, a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which agrees with the decision made by the majority of the court, but states different (or additional) reasons as the basis for his or her decision (uzasadnienie wspierające)

DISSENTING OPINION – “I don’t agree ”, a written opinion by one or more judges of a court which disagrees with the decision made by the majority of the court (zdanie odrębne, opinia odmienna)

MAJORITY OPINION – “What most members agree with” a judicial opinion agreed to by more than half of the members of a court (zdanie większości, orzeczenie sądowe mające poparcie większości sędziów)

JUDICIAL OPINION – a form of legal opinion written by a judge or a judicial panel that provides the decision reached, the facts of the case and an analysis of the law used to arrive at the decision (uzasadnienie orzeczenia sądowego, opinia sędziego)

(1) As a practical matter, concurring opinions are slightly less useful to lawyers than majority opinions. Having failed to receive a majority of the court's votes, concurring opinions are not binding precedent and cannot be cited as such.

BINDING – wiążący (must be followed)

A PRECEDENT – precedens (a principle or rule established in a previous legal case)

TO CITE – powoływać się (to refer to a decision in another case to support an argument)

(2) In some courts, such as the Supreme Court of the United States, the majority opinion may be broken down into numbered or lettered parts, and then concurring justices may state that they join some parts of the majority opinion, but not others, for the reasons given in their concurring opinion.

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES (SCOTUS) – Sąd Najwyższy Stanów Zjednoczonych (the highest federal court of the United States)

(3) Occasionally, a judge will use a concurring opinion to signal that he or she is open to certain types of test cases that would facilitate the development of a new legal rule, and in turn, such a concurring opinion may become more famous than the majority opinion in the same case. A well-known example of this phenomenon is Escola v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co. (1944).

A TEST CASE – powództwo wytaczane na próbę, które, w razie pozytywnego dla nas wyniku ustanowi nowy precedens (a legal action whose purpose is to set a precedent)

IN TURN – z kolei (as a result)

ESCOLA V. COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO. (1944) – a case in California involving a serious hand injury caused by an exploding bottle of Coca-Cola; important in the development of product liability; Escola is the name of the waitress who sued the producer; the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, following the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur; in his concurring opinion Roger Traynor argued that instead of deciding the case on grounds of negligence, a rule of strict liability /absolute legal responsibility for an injury that can be imposed on the wrongdoer without proof of carelessness or fault/ should be imposed on manufacturers whose products cause injury to consumers.

http://idiglegalenglish.blogspot.com/2017/07/legal-word-of-day-res-ipsa-loquitur.html

(4) In the mid-20th century, it became customary for the members of the U.S. Supreme Court and many state supreme courts to end their dissenting opinions with a variation on the phrase "I respectfully dissent."

(5) The dissenting opinions rendered in the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice have played a remarkable role in the development of international law. The importance of dissents before international courts, particularly the ICJ, is due to the public nature of the proceedings and the fact that such decisions often address novel issues over which no solid body of jurisprudence has yet developed.

THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (ICJ)/ THE HAGUE – Międzynarodowy Trybunał Sprawiedliwości (the court of the United Nations that decides disputes between member states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies)

PROCEEDINGS –  postępowanie sądowe (action taken in a court to settle a dispute)

A BODY – zbiór (a collection)

JURISPRUDENCE – orzecznictwo (case law, the legal decisions which have developed and which accompany statutes in applying the law)

this or that: BENCH TRIAL vs JURY TRIAL

this or that: BENCH TRIAL vs JURY TRIAL

BENCH TRIAL – a trial before a judge alone (proces bez udziału ławy przysięgłych)

JURY TRIAL – a trial by jury (proces z udziałem ławy przysięgłych)

(1) In bench trials, the judge takes on two roles: that of the referee who rules on the admissibility of evidence and decides questions of law, and that of the finder of fact who ultimately determines how much weight to give the testimony of different witnesses and the credibility of the evidence.

ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE – dopuszczalność dowodów (the quality of being allowed to be used/ accepted as evidence during a legal proceeding)

A QUESTION OF LAW – kwestia prawna, zagadnienie prawne (a disputed legal question, left to a judge to determine; the opposite of a question of fact)

 TESTIMONY – zeznanie (a form of evidence that is obtained from a witness who makes a solemn statement or declaration of fact)

CREDIBILITY – wiarygodność (how convincing and believable someone/something is)

(2) Some litigators and parties might prefer bench trials if they have a particularly complicated case that they believe may confuse a jury.

A LITIGATOR – prawnik specjalizujący się występowaniu na sali sądowej, adwokat (a trial lawyer; a lawyer who specializes in appearing before trial courts – the courts of first instance)

(3) Section 47 Criminal Justice Act 2003 does allow a bench trial for indictable offences, but is rarely used, having been exercised only two times since its inception. (In case of serious criminal offences the norm is a jury trial.)

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 – Ustawa o prawie karnym z 2003 r. (an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, modernises many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Northern Ireland)

AN INDICTABLE OFFENCE (UK) – przestępstwo, którego sądzenie wymaga od prokuratury złożenia aktu oskarżenia, zbrodnia,  (a serious offence which can only be tried on an indictment in a crown court, as opposed to a summary offence that is tried without an indictment in a magistrates’ court)

AN INDICTMENT – akt oskarżenia (a document in which a person is formally accused of a crime)

(4) In a jury trial, the jury decides the factual issues and the judge decides the legal issues. That is why a jury is referred to as the “fact-finder.” This means that juries hear testimony and review documents and other physical evidence to determine what, when, and how took place.

LEGAL ISSUES= QUESTIONS OF LAW – kwestie prawne, zagadnienia prawne (disputed legal questions, left to a judge to determine; the opposite of questions of fact)

 TESTIMONY – zeznanie (a form of evidence that is obtained from a witness who makes a solemn statement or declaration of fact)

TO REVIEW – analizować, oceniać, poddawać ocenie (to analyse, to assess)

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE/ REAL EVIDENCE – dowód rzeczowy (any material object, introduced as evidence in a judicial proceeding to prove a fact in issue based on the object's physical characteristics)

(5) In U.S. law, for most criminal cases, trial by jury is usually a matter of course as it is a constitutional right under the Sixth Amendment and cannot be waived without certain requirements.

A MATTER OF COURSE – norma (the usual or expected thing)

THE SIXTH AMENDMENT– szósta poprawka do konstytucji amerykańskiej (the Sixth Amendment (Amendment VI) to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. It provides many protections and rights to those accused of a crime: the right to a lawyer, to a speedy public trial, to an impartial jury, to know who his (or her) accusers are and to know the charges and evidence against him.)

TO WAIVE – zrzec się (to give up, to resign, to not demand something that is your right)

(6) The defendant may waive a jury trial at any time before the jury is sworn. A waiver of jury trial must be in writing; have the consent of the district attorney general; and have the approval of the court.

TO WAIVE – zrzec się (to give up, to resign, to not demand something that is your right)

A WAIVER –  zrzeczenie się, (giving up a right)

SWORN – zaprzysiężona ( have officially promised to render a true verdict according to the evidence)

IN WRITING – na piśmie (in a written form)

A CONSENT/ AN APPROVAL– zgoda (a permission, an agreement)

THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL– prokurator okręgowy (the director of a state’s prosecution office)

(7) The biggest advantage to a jury trial is the amount that juries tend to award. Juries are much more ruled by their passions than judges, so a particularly compelling story about how a victim suffered injury or harm at the hands of the defendant can lead to a much heftier award than a dispassionate judge would grant. Thus, it is no surprise that the biggest verdicts in US history have all come from jury trials.

TO AWARD (AN AMOUNT) TO SOMEONE – przyznać/ zasądzić odszkodowanie w kwocie na rzecz  (to order  a party to a suit to pay the other party a given amount)

TO SUFFER INJURY/HARM – ponieść uszczerbek (na zdrowiu) (to get injured, harmed)

AT THE HANDS OF– z rąk (by)

THE DEFENDANT– pozwany (the person against whom a case was brought to court)

TO GRANT AN AWARD – przyznać/ zasądzić odszkodowanie na rzecz (to order a party to a suit to pay the other party 

legal word of the day: ACTIONABLE

legal word of the day: ACTIONABLE

ENG: giving legal grounds for a lawsuit or other legal action

POL:

a) zaskarżalne; o roszczeniu, które może być dochodzone na drodze cywilnoprawnej,

b) stanowiące przestępstwo

(1) The question of whether a statement constitutes an actionable statement or merely protected opinion is one of the most difficult questions for a judge to consider in the defamation context. In fact, the California Supreme Court said in a case: "The distinction as to what is a statement of fact and what is a statement of opinion is frequently a difficult one."

DEFAMATION – zniesławienie, pomówienie (the fact of damaging the reputation of a person or a group of people by publishing (=libel) or saying (=slander) bad things about them that are not true)

A STATEMENT OF FACT – stwierdzenie faktu (a statement that can be proven to be either true or false)

A STATEMENT OF OPINION – wyrażenie poglądu (a statement that expresses what someone believes or thinks)

(2) In the absence of consent, medical treatment is normally both civilly and criminally actionable under English law. As Lord Scarman has stated, 'A doctor who operates without the consent of his patient is, save in cases of emergency or mental disability, guilty of the civil wrong of trespass to the person; he is also guilty of the criminal offense of assault.

IN THE ABSENCE OF – wobec braku (without)

CONSENT – zgoda (permission or agreement)

SAVE – z wyjątkiem (except for)

A CIVIL WRONG – delikt (a tort)

TRESPASS TO THE PERSON – naruszenie nietykalności cielesnej lub innych praw osoby (a direct or an intentional interference with a person's body or liberty, e.g. unlawfully harming someone; unlawfully touching someone; unlawfully keeping someone a prisoner; unlawfully causing someone to be unable to leave a room, house or other place)

ASSAULT (UK) – common assault or battery

COMMON ASSAULT (UK) – np. groźba (causing the victim to apprehend (fear) immediate and unlawful touching or personal harm)

BATTERY (UK) – naruszenie nietykalności cielesnej (unlawful touching of the victim)

(3) First of all, the act of posting sexually explicit photos of another person without their consent only became legally actionable under the Criminal Code in early 2015, when the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act came into effect.

SEXUALLY EXPLICIT – o treści erotycznej (the dominant theme of which is the depiction or description of nudity, including sexual or excretory /związane z wydalaniem) activities or organs, in a lascivious /lubieżny/ way)

COME INTO EFFECT– wejść w życie, zacząć obowiązywać (come into force, start to apply)

(4) DONNA: Are you telling me you didn't go off on Brian Altman and then make a horrible comment about Stephanie Patel's sex life?

LOUIS: It's called discipline, Donna.

DONNA: It's called actionable, Louis.

(5) IT GUY: And I've been tracking every Internet move you've made for the past ten months, waiting for the slipup.

MIKE: Bet you thought you had me at teenybikini.com.

IT GUY: No. No, no. Because I cross-referenced that with your workplace harassment case, and I knew. But don't think I'm not aware that you went home for dinner and used your personal computer to go back there.

MIKE: Okay, that's not actionable, but hacking my personal computer is.

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT – mobbing (belittling or threatening behavior directed at an individual worker or a group of workers; any unwelcome verbal or physical conduct based on any characteristic protected by law when: (1) the behavior can reasonably be considered to adversely affect the work environment; or (2) an employment decision affecting the employee is based upon the employee's acceptance or rejection of such conduct)