Letters H&I Legal Terms

Hearing: In the trial court context, a legal proceeding held before a judge. During a hearing, evidence and arguments are presented in an effort to resolve a disputed factual or legal issue. Hearings typically, but by no means always, occur prior to trial when a party asks the judge to decide a specific issue--often on an interim basis. In the administrative or agency law context, a hearing is usually a proceeding before an administrative hearing officer or judge representing an agency that has the power to regulate a particular field or oversee a governmental benefit program. For example, the Federal Aviation Board (FAB) has the authority to hold hearings on airline safety, and a state Worker's Compensation Appeals Board has the power to rule on the appeals of people whose applications for benefits have been denied.

Indispensable party: A person or entity that must be included in a lawsuit in order for the court to render a final judgment that will be just to everyone concerned.

Injunction: A court decision that is intended to prevent harm--often irreparable harm--as distinguished from most court decisions, which are designed to provide a remedy for harm that has already occurred. Injunctions are orders that one side refrain from or stop certain actions. Injunctions can be temporary; pending a consideration of the issue later at trial (these are called interlocutory decrees or preliminary injunctions). Judges can also issue permanent injunctions at the end of trials, in which a party may be permanently prohibited from engaging in some conduct--for example, infringing a copyright or trademark or making use of illegally obtained trade secrets. Although most injunctions order a party not to do something, occasionally a court will issue a "mandatory injunction" to order a party to carry out a positive act--for example, return stolen computer code.

Inure: To take effect, or to benefit someone. In property law, the term means "to vest.

Issue: A term generally meaning all your children and their children down through the generations, including grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on.

These terms are brought to you by the Atlanta Accident Attorneys.