Eli5 – How can someone be proven not guilty of murder in criminal court but still sued in civil court?
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The goals and remedies are different between civil and criminal cases, and therefore the procedure is different between civil and criminal cases. In criminal cases there’s a lot stricter procedures because someone’s liberty is on the line. The courts are a lot stricter on the plaintiff in order to make sure justice is served because the plaintiff is the most powerful one the court will see, the plaintiff is the United States or one of the 50 states, and they are asking to potentially put you in prison. In civil cases The plaintiff can be anybody from a piece of farm equipment to a foreign government, there are a much wider amount of possible plaintiffs and remedies which require totally different rules of procedure.
It would be near impossible to have a trial that conforms to both the rules of criminal procedure and the rules of civil procedure and also be fair to all parties. For instance if you were to combine a civil case with a criminal case, party that would usually be in a civil case would barred from using certain evidence or admissions because If you were to introduce those in a criminal proceeding they would be grounds for a mistrial. On the other side if you were to lower the standard because you have civil lit against joining the case it would be unfair to the accused who can no longer bar evidence that is normally not allowed in criminal proceedings.
Double jeopardy applies to the state in criminal proceedings. Once you’ve been found guilty or not guilty that matters concluded *with the state*. Other plaintiffs can come along. Imagine for a second you hit two people on a tandem bike. Each person has the right to sue you, If one person sues you and gets a judgment against you, that doesn’t bar the second person from later suing you. You can’t say it’s double jeopardy because it’s not double jeopardy, It may be real litigating the same single incident, but it’s a new plaintiff. For convenience oftentimes the court will combine plaintiffs from a single incident, and whatever comes of that judgment is the end of it, but plaintiff s can also request to not be enjoined in that judgment, which means they reserve the right to sue you later if they want no matter what the judgment is.
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