Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

person seeks damages or other legal
remedies from another.
Summary Judgment A judgment that decides a case based
on affidavits or depositions.
Requests for summary judgment are
made before trial. A summary
judgment is desirable because it
saves the time and expense of a trial.
Survivor Action A legal cause of action brought on
behalf of a dead person to recover
losses sustained by the deceased
during his or her lifetime.
Survivorship Clause A contractual agreement between
joint owners of property that, should
one of the owners die, the surviving
owner is entitled to the decedent’s
ownership rights in the property.
Testimony Statements made at a hearing or trial
by a witness under oath.
“Thin Skull Rule” The legal principle that a defendant
must take the plaintiff as he finds
him. For example, the defendant
cannot complain that the plaintiff’s
injuries were unusually severe
because the plaintiff has an unusual
physical condition. The term comes
from an apocryphal case involving a
plaintiff with a thin skull who suffers
a serious head injury in a very minor
accident.
Third Party A third party, sometimes abbreviated
TP, is a person who is not a party to
a legal relationship or transaction,
but is affected by the transaction.
Third-Party Liability A defendant in a civil case can
compel a third party to join the suit
as their codefendant and share in the
liability if the third party is also
liable to the plaintiff. A surgeon who
is named in a wrongful death suit
may implead an anesthetist who is
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