Court Divisions
Law Division
In some civil cases, the plaintiff seeks money (also known as damages) from the defendant as compensation for injuries allegedly caused by the defendant. Some common examples are cases involving car accidents, medical malpractice, defective products, and contract disputes.
In other cases, the plaintiff seeks the court to command the defendant to do (or not do) a specific action. Some common examples of these types of cases are where a plaintiff is seeking an injunction, specific performance, enforcement of property rights, and testamentary or administrative matters such as trusts and wills.
The Law Division routinely hears the following types of cases:
Arbitration (AR): Arbitration is a mandatory program for dispute resolution. A court-appointed arbitration panel reviews the case to decide a just resolution and award. Arbitration is intended to lower court costs for litigants and allow the court to utilize judicial resources more effectively. If a party rejects the arbitration panel’s findings, the case may proceed to trial in the law division.
Chancery (CH): Chancery handles all cases where the resolution does not involve monetary damages. Such a case might involve exchanges and/or returns of property, as well as injunctions.
Eminent Domain (ED): Eminent domain cases involve the taking of private land for public projects such as schools, roads, bridges, etc.
Law (L), Law Magistrate (LM), Small Claims (SC): Law, Law Magistrate, and Small Claims courts hear cases where monetary damages are involved. The division depends on the amount of the award sought. Awards seeking damages over $50,000 are heard in the Law division, awards seeking damages between $50,000 and $10,000 are heard in the Law Magistrate division, and awards seeking damages under $10,000 are heard in Small Claims Court.
Municipal Corporation (MC): Municipal Corporation cases are routine administrative matters that require court approval. These include organizational matters, appointment of officers, approval of bonds, and routine orders confirming annexation.
Miscellaneous Remedy (MR): Many interactions with municipal, county, and state agencies initially take place as administrative hearings before that government office or agency. These offices may make rulings on matters, which can be appealed. After all administrative appeals have been exhausted, the appealer can ask for a Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions. The Miscellaneous Remedy division hears these appeals (except for tax cases). Other MR cases include change of name and extradition matters.
Tax (TX): Tax cases first take place as administrative hearings before a government office or agency, such as the Property Tax Appeals Board. After all administrative appeals have been exhausted, the taxpayer can ask for a Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions. The tax court performs the judicial reviews of those administrative decisions.
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