The term Prima Facie is a legal term that represents a legal scenario where enough evidence is presented by the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty. If you are in any way associated with the law or have any knowledge about legal terminology, you must have likely heard about this term. Whether you are running an individual business or a company, understanding such legal terms and their importance is necessary. This is why we are going to have a look at the basics of this term and try to understand its importance in the court of law.
What is Prima Facie? Why is it important in the Court of law?
The term Prima facie is a legal term or a legal claim which is made when the prosecution has enough evidence to proceed with a trial of judgement and to prove that the defendant is guilty. The term is derived from a Latin word which means, “at first sight” or “at first view”. Prima facie refers to a case in which pre-trial evidence was reviewed by a judge and determined to be sufficient to warrant the trial. The term is more specifically used in civil cases where the plaintiff carries the burden of proof. However, even if the case is determined as prima facie, it does not mean that the plaintiff will win.
At the time of a civil litigation, a lawsuit is filed against the plaintiff claiming that the actions or inactions of the defendant has caused an injury. You can understand this better with the help of an example. For example, a business can file a claim against one of its suppliers in case the supplier fails to deliver an order which resulted in the business losing its customers. The business can show that the supplier has made a breach in the contract which has affected the business and its customers.
The complaint that is filed to the court needs to provide background information on why the lawsuit is made and what the injury was. It should also include the way in which the defendant may have caused the or contributed to the injury that has occured. Before the trial begins, the court needs to determine if the case is valid enough and has enough merit for the trial to start in the court.
On the initial examination of the claim, which takes place during the pre-trial hearing, the judge has to determine whether enough evidence exists to establish a rebuttable presumption in the favor of a plaintiff. Once this is determined by the judge, the case is considered to be prima facie. After this the case is permitted to go into further trial. However, this does not guarantee in any way that the plaintiff will win the lawsuit.
As the burden of proof is placed on the plaintiff during the civil lawsuits, the plaintiff is the only one who is able to provide the preponderance of evidence for the court to consider the claim to be legitimate. In case the plaintiff fails to provide sufficient evidence to support its claim against the defendant regarding the said injury, the court won’t find the case as valid and may dismiss the case before going into trial. Once the court finds that a prima facie exists, the defendant needs to produce evidence to fight the claims made against them in the prima facie in order to win the lawsuit.
There are some instances where the evidence presented in a claim is enough to allow for summary judgement. When it comes to a prima facie case, the facts given by the plaintiff are enough to prove that the defendant’s actions are in accordance with the claims made by the plaintiff. In case of employment discrimination lawsuits, the courts have certain tests and guidelines which they have established for the judges to use in order to determine whether the summary of judgement can be given.
Once the plaintiff successfully establishes a prima facie case, the burden of producing evidence or the burden of proof shifts from the plaintiff to the defendant. The defendant then needs to prove that the claims made against him or her are not valid enough for conviction. For example, in the case of employment discrimination, the defendant needs to prove that an employee was terminated for some other reason and not because of discrimination.
How is prima facie different from res ipsa loquitur?
Another important point to be noted when talking about prima facie is that it is often confused with the term res ipsa loquitur. The latter phrase means, “The thing that speaks for itself”, or “the thing itself speaks”. It is a common law doctrine that when a fact has made itself evident that a fault lies with a party, there is no need to produce extra details to prove that fault or negligence. This is because any reasonable person would easily find the facts. Although this may seem similar to prima facie, both these terms are different from each other.
The main difference between prima facie and res ipsa loquitur is that, the term prima facie means that there is enough evidence for the case to be valid and go into trial, whereas, res ipsa loquitur means that, the facts of the case are so obvious that there is no need of producing extra evidence to make them any more clear. You can better understand this difference with the help of an example.
For example, there is a prima facie case made against the defendant by the plaintiff that claims that the defendant caused a fire to break out in the plaintiff’s garage. The prima facie is made on the basis that the defendant had access to the plaintiff’s garage. The case becomes res ipsa loquitur when the plaintiff was out of town and had left the control of the garage with the defendant.
The concept of prima facie may be a little confusing if you have little or no knowledge about how the law works. However, by looking at the realistic examples and reading about the basics behind this concept, it becomes a little easier to understand.
