Legal Definitions - separate trial

A separate trial occurs when a court decides to hear and decide certain claims, issues, or parties in a lawsuit independently from others, even if they originated within the same overall case. Instead of conducting one single trial for all aspects of a complex legal dispute, the court may order distinct, individual trials for specific components. This decision is often made to ensure fairness, prevent confusion, or improve the efficiency of the legal process.

Here are some examples illustrating the concept of a separate trial:

• Criminal Case with Multiple Defendants: Imagine a situation where three individuals are charged with different roles in a large-scale conspiracy. Evidence against one defendant might be highly prejudicial to another, or their defenses might be conflicting. To ensure each defendant receives a fair trial based solely on the evidence against them, the judge might order separate trials for each individual. This means each person's guilt or innocence would be determined in their own distinct court proceeding, preventing the jury from being unfairly swayed by evidence pertaining to the co-defendants.

• Civil Case with Distinct Claims: Consider a plaintiff suing a corporation for both patent infringement and unfair business practices. The legal standards, evidence, and arguments for proving patent infringement are vastly different from those required for unfair business practices. To avoid confusing the jury and to streamline the presentation of evidence, the court might order a separate trial for the patent infringement claim and another for the unfair business practices claim. This allows each claim to be thoroughly examined and decided on its own merits without intermingling the distinct legal issues.

• Bifurcated Trial for Liability and Damages: In many personal injury lawsuits, the question of who is at fault (liability) is distinct from the question of how much compensation is owed for injuries (damages). A court might decide to conduct a separate trial, often called a "bifurcated trial," where the first phase focuses solely on determining liability. If the jury finds the defendant liable, a second, separate trial phase would then be held to determine the amount of damages the plaintiff should receive. This approach can save time and resources, as there would be no need to present extensive evidence on damages if liability is not established in the first phase.