A repair or a change made after an accident has occurred which could have prevented the accident. Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, although subsequent remedial measures cannot be used to prove a party's wrongdoing or culpable conduct, evidence of a...
courts and procedure
substantive due process
Substantive due process is the principle that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments protect fundamental rights from government interference. Specifically, the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the government from depriving any person of...
substantive law
Law which governs the original rights and obligations of individuals. Substantive law may derive from the common law, statutes, or a constitution. For example, a claim to recover for breach of contract or negligence or fraud would be a common...
substituted service
When filing any documents with the court, the party filing the paper(s) must “serve” the other party with a copy of it. Serving a document means making sure that the person whose rights are being litigated (i.e., fought over) receives a copy...
substitution of parties
Substitution of parties is a replacement of one of the parties in a lawsuit because of events that prevent the party from continuing with the trial. This can be due to a number of reasons including death, incompetence or transfer of interest...
subsume
To bring a specific occurrence within a broad rule. When a court subsumes a case, it decides that it fits within an established analytical framework. From there, the court plugs each relevant fact of the case into the broad rule and obtains its...
sufficient cause
Sufficient cause, or good cause, refers to a legal determination that there exists sufficient reason to support a case or decision. Sufficient cause is tied to causation but varies depending on legal context. For example, in torts, sufficient...
suit
See: lawsuit
[Last updated in August of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
summary adjudication
Summary adjudication is a pre-trial procedural device that allows a court to determine the merits of a particular cause of action, an affirmative defense, a claim for damages, and/or an issue of duty. This procedural device can be brought by...
summation
In a legal trial, summation refers to the final, closing argument articulated by a litigant to a judge or jury concerning the merits of their side of a case. In contrast to an opening statement, in which a litigant may only preview what the...