How does the judge decide what you are owed?
There are two parts to a civil claim that the judge needs to decide upon before coming to a decision on the judgment sum. The first part is liability. The second part is damages suffered.
To arrive at the judgment sum, the judge will multiply the percentage of liability that the Defendant suffered by the damages suffered by the Plaintiff. On a very simplified level, the judgment sum can be illustrated in the following equation:
Judgment Sum = Defendant’s Liability (in %) x Plaintiff’s Damages (in $)
Deciding Liability
In deciding liability, the judge needs to consider how to apportion liability between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, and third parties (if any). Liability is decided in terms of percentages. As an illustration, when the Plaintiff and the Defendant are both equally liable for the damage caused, the judge will apportion liability on a 50:50 basis between the Plaintiff and the Defendant. This means that the Plaintiff bears 50% of the blame and the Defendant bears 50% of the blame.
Deciding Damages
In deciding damages, the judge will typically have the aid of expert witnesses to properly quantify the damages suffered by the Plaintiff. Examples of expert witnesses used are doctors in cases where there are medical expenses incurred and professional surveyors where there has been damage done to property.
Bifurcation
Bifurcation is the process by which the judge decides upon how to apportion liability first, before deciding upon the damages suffered by parties. The judge typically decides that bifurcation is appropriate if it is more efficient to conduct a hearing solely to apportion liability first — as opposed to conducting a hearing to apportion liability and assess damages at the same time — or if the judge is of the view that a judgment on liability will help parties come to a settlement on the entire dispute.
