CIVIL PROCEDURE OUTLINE: WOLLF, SPRING 2011
Framing and Responding to the Initial Story: Pleadings
Pleading Overview
Gives other side notice; tells a good story; tells a court why it should bother with the case
· Medieval Pleadings
o “greeting” acknowledged that plaintiffs filing fee had been made
o no such thing as a default judgmentà D had to appear in court
o Focus: encouraging D to appear
o Steps:
§ 1. Summons
§ 2. D assured their appearance by posting a “gage” (aka bond) and supplying persons (“pledges”) who would personally promise they would appear
· Modern Pleadings
o Addressed to the court
o Establishes jurisdiction by beginning w a recitation of the state citizenship of the 2 parties
o Focus: “Facuality” (nature of the injuries) and Remedies (amount of damages)
o “A cause of action” phrase should generally not be used! This phrase is imprecise and should be replaced by “CLAIM”
o Claim
§ Why you are suing
§ What relief you are entitled to!
o Federal system:
§ Federal System “decided” they know what facts were so they left the “fact” requirement out
§ Limited sovereignty so there are different requirement for pleading according to Rule 8
§ The law is assumed! Although Rule 8 does not include explicitly that FACTS need to be pleaded, some form of facts need to be pleaded to show why you are entitled to relief; Stating a claim of relief needs to be pleaded! RULE 8
ú Seen in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly
§ Rule 8 (a) = Modern Claims for Relief
ú Rule 8. General Rules of Pleading
· (a) Claims for Relief.
o A pleading that states a claim for relief must contain:
§ (1) a short and plain statement of the grounds for the court’s jurisdiction, unless the court already has jurisdiction and the claim needs no new jurisdictional support;
§ (2) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and
§ (3) a demand for the relief sought, which may include relief in the alternative or different types of relief. (Called “Prayer for Relief”) (why the plaintiff should get something!)
o State system:
§ no confusion about what a fact is; MO approved instructions (aka the jury instructions) that ask the jury to find the facts, those facts that we tell jury to find are the facts that we plead in state court
§ Do not call it a complaint
§ Kept the old code pleading word, Petition
§ REQUIREMENTS IN MO
ú (2 and 3 of Rule 8 except a bit different)à “A short and plain statement of facts to shoe plaintiff is entitled to relief”
· US Supreme court recent ruling on Pleading: don’t like that the pleadings reach a conclusion, despite the fact that the exact example in the Fed Rules has in essence a conclusion
o Cut off claims before we get to expensive discovery process
· Steps to Trial
o Complaint Phase
§ Response to Pleadings
ú Answer (Rule 8)
ú Motion (Rule 12)
§ If we survive the complaint phase à
o Discovery Phase
§ After discovery there is sometimes a Motion for Summary Judgment (looking for a factual dispute or whether it can be determined by a matter of law)
o Trial Phase
§ FACTS get tried
ú The question is whether the factual things we site in our complaint/pleading is whether there is relief to be granted
ú Tried in Rule 12 motions; motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, HENCE the reason stating a claim in a complaint is so important
· Audience in a Pleading
o Courts and the parties
§ What Courts want to know: what type of case it is; jurisdiction; is it a substantive claim?
§ What parties want to know: factual disputesà P will want to know precise detail on why D denies liability while D will prefer a sketchier outline while it researches the best type of defense
· Promulgation of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in 1938
o 1. Merged law and equity
a failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted.
o Law that says this could be wrong: Civil Rights act law, 42 USC 1985, prohibiting conspiracy threats of force against someone who is a witness, or might be a witness, in any court: NOT confined to civil rights cases.
o SO the question remains, is there a remedy?
o Conclusion: Trial Court granted motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim- Rule 12 b, despite the fact the employers wronged him, because he was an at-will employee citing case law Morast v. Lance, thus, there is no claim for relief
o The importance of the allegations in the original complaint (P 340): no one has to hear the testimony of the claims because it is dismissed before it gets to trial
§ In the pleading, the complaint do not explicitly state the employee is an at-will employee, it just says he was an employee
§ Nevertheless, the court may assume that the employee is an at-wll employee
ú In essence, to prove he wasn’t an at-will employee we would have to distinguish the relevent case law, Morast v. Lance
o Examination of the Pleading on p 340:
§ First five paragraphs, established subject matter jurisdiction and some state claims are thrown in there
§ 7-16 establish the story (subheadings help explain what happened and make it easy to comprehend)
§ Technically, you don’t have to cite the statute or law, but if it is an obscure law, than it may be helpful just like it did in 17-23
§ Prayer for Relief is last
§ Courts will allow you to amend a pleading if you leave something out and ask the court to amend the pleading
