Also known as: private parties · private litigant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A non-governmental individual or entity that participates in legal proceedings or transactions as opposed to a governmental body.
Penelope Price and Pulse Media entered a state-law contract for advertising services before Pulse Media filed for bankruptcy. The bankruptcy court asserted authority to enter final judgment on Price's prepetition breach claim against Pulse Media as part of estate administration. The assignment of this traditional private dispute to a non-Article III tribunal without party consent raises constitutional concerns under Article III.
Pierre Poulin sued Pamela Phillips in civil court for breach of a commercial lease. During jury selection Phillips exercised a peremptory challenge to exclude a prospective juror on the basis of race. Because jury selection constitutes a traditional public function performed with court participation, Phillips as a private litigant may not exercise the challenge in a racially discriminatory manner.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A private party opened and searched a package, revealing its contents to police. Officers then inspected the same items without a warrant. Because the private party had already exposed the contents, the subsequent police inspection did not exceed the private search and raised no Fourth Amendment issue.
Phoebe Park, a private citizen, sued Pulse Media for publishing a false article accusing her of criminal conduct. Because the plaintiff is not a public official, she need only prove negligence rather than actual malice to recover damages. The case illustrates ordinary private-party libel standards.
Patrick Phan obtained a large compensatory award against Prosperity Investments for bad-faith insurance denial. The jury also imposed substantial punitive damages. On review the court must ensure the punitive award bears a reasonable relationship to the compensatory damages and to the reprehensibility of the private defendant's conduct.
Prism Analytics challenged an administrative rule that imposed new compliance costs on its data-processing business. The company argued the agency exceeded its statutory authority when promulgating the regulation. The reviewing court applies deferential standards to the agency's interpretation while ensuring the rule stays within the bounds Congress set for private regulated entities.
A private party becomes a state actor when it jointly participates with state officials in seizing property or when it exercises peremptory challenges that rely on overt court assistance. The key inquiry is whether the private conduct can fairly be attributed to the state.
Supporting sources
No. Congress may not wholesale assign cases of the type traditionally heard by Article III courts, such as private contract claims, to bankruptcy courts lacking life tenure and salary protection. Such an assignment violates Article III.
Supporting sources
No. When a private party has already searched a package and revealed its contents, a subsequent police inspection that does not exceed the private search scope is not a Fourth Amendment search.
Supporting sources
…State action and not private action." That proposition has no application to this case. Although this is a civil lawsuit between private parties, the Alabama courts have applied a state rule of law which petitioners claim to impose invalid restrictions on their constitutional freedoms of speech and press. It matters not that that…