Task: songer_typeiss

What follows is an opinion from a United States Court of Appeals.
Your task is to determine the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court. Choose among the following categories. Criminal and prisioner petitions- includes appeals of conviction, petitions for post conviction relief, habeas corpus petitions, and other prisoner petitions which challenge the validity of the conviction or the sentence or the validity of continued confinement. Civil - Government - these will include appeals from administrative agencies (e.g., OSHA,FDA), the decisions of administrative law judges, or the decisions of independent regulatory agencies (e.g., NLRB, FCC,SEC). The focus in administrative law is usually on procedural principles that apply to administrative agencies as they affect private interests, primarily through rulemaking and adjudication. Tort actions against the government, including petitions by prisoners which challenge the conditions of their confinement or which seek damages for torts committed by prion officials or by police fit in this category. In addition, this category will include suits over taxes and claims for benefits from government. Diversity of Citizenship - civil cases involving disputes between citizens of different states (remember that businesses have state citizenship). These cases will always involve the application of state or local law. If the case is centrally concerned with the application or interpretation of federal law then it is not a diversity case. Civil Disputes - Private - includes all civil cases that do not fit in any of the above categories. The opposing litigants will be individuals, businesses or groups.

PER CURIAM.
This appeal is from a judgment of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the United States District Court for the District of Columbia), sustaining a demurrer to appellant’s second amended declaration.
The appellant, plaintiff below, a domestic servant of a tenant of the defendant, sued to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by her as the result of the fall of plaster from a ceiling of the leased premises.
We are confronted with a motion of the defendant to dismiss the appeal because of plaintiff’s failure to file an assignment of errors, either in this court or in the court below. Paragraph 9 of rule 5 of this court provides: “Prior to the settling and signing of the bill of exceptions by the trial justice or judge there shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the lower court the assignment of errors relied on by the appellant or plaintiff in error, as the case may be. The errors shall be separately and specifically stated and the assignment shall be included in the transcript of record. If error is assigned to the ruling upon the report of an auditor or master, the specification shall state the exceptions to the report and the action of the court thereon. ' Ap-pellee may object to the settlement of the bill until the assignment is filed as required. In a case where there is no bill of exceptions or statement of evidence the assignment shall be filed in time for inclusion in the transcript.”
Since the case was disposed of upon demurrer to the declaration, there is no bill of exceptions or statement of evidence, but under the above-quoted rule this furnishes no excuse for the failure to file an assignment of errors. The rule has been strictly enforced, not only in this court but in the Supreme Court of the United States. E. R. Squibb & Sons v. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, 293 U.S. 190, 55 S.Ct. 135, 79 L.Ed. 279; Rowe v. Phelps, 152 U.S. 87, 14 S.Ct. 632, 38 L.Ed. 365; Boston Mining Co. v. Eagle Mining Co., 115 U.S. 221, 6 S.Ct. 33, 29 L.Ed. 392; Cooper v. Sillers, 30 App. D.C. 567.
Paragraph 5 of rule 8 of this court provides that we may, at our option, “notice and pass upon a plain error not assigned.” It may be observed that this rule specifies “a plain error.” We find no plain error in this case and therefore, since there was an utter failure to comply with paragraph 9 of rule 5, we think that the judgment must be affirmed.
This discretion to notice a plain error is similar to that conferred by the corresponding rule of the Supreme Court (paragraph 4 of rule 27 of the present rules, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 354), which has been exercised almost exclusively in criminal cases, where, to meet the ends of justice, the court has relaxed the strict requirements of its rules. Weems v. United States, 217 U.S. 349, 362, 30 S.Ct. 544, 54 L.Ed. 793, 19 Ann. Cas. 705.
The judgment is affirmed.

Question: What is the general category of issues discussed in the opinion of the court?
A. criminal and prisoner petitions
B. civil - government
C. diversity of citizenship
D. civil - private
E. other, not applicable
F. not ascertained
Answer:

Answer: D