Civil justice’s core challenge is ensuring ordinary citizens can access courts

Evidence

One view is that the basic problem in civil justice is ensuring access to the courts for ordinary citizens. From that perspective, one might view the Agent Orange litigation as something of a triumph. For the most part, the plaintiffs were persons of moderate means who had suffered health problems that they attributed to the negligence of large corporations. Nevertheless, these plaintiffs were able to secure legal counsel, to gain a hearing for their claims in the courts, and to obtain at least some redress for their suffering— in short, to gain access and secure some measure of justice. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1045

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames ‘access to justice’ as the central normative concern in civil justice scholarship.
• XREF: connects to: Ordinary plaintiffs can win court access and partial redress against corporations — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2164; Justice requires participation parity alongside distribution and recognition. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 66; Court advocacy assumes roughly matched adversaries to reach justice — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 262 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Ordinary plaintiffs can win court access and partial redress against corporations #exemplifies (0.82) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2164
• Civil justice reform uniformly pushes settlement so trials become anomalous exceptions #complicates (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2384
• Court advocacy assumes roughly matched adversaries to reach justice #qualifies (0.79) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 262
• NAACP litigation strategically pursued civil rights through the courts across many issue areas #exemplifies (0.77) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 888
• Justice requires participation parity alongside distribution and recognition. #expands (0.75) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 66
• Courts cannot ensure their rulings reach large target populations #complicates (0.73) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3193
• Complexity can render some civil cases constitutionally unsuitable for jury trial #complicates (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1435