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A lawsuit begins when one person files a complaint against another person. In this section, you will learn:
- the components of a complaint,
- common terms related to a complaint,
- strategies at the complaint stage.
Complaint & Summons
The Complaint describes a set of actions taken by another person that cause a harm or injury.
Every person sued must be notified by a Summons, which is delivered by a process server or by publication in a local newspaper.
Definitions
- Litigation — a contest between opposing sides in a court of law
- Party — one of the contestants in litigation
- Claim — an assertion that someone owes money or property
- Liability — a legal obligation to do or pay something
- Relief — compensation for an injury
- Clerk — a court official who maintains the records of the court
More Definitions
- Plaintiff — a party who is suing or bringing the lawsuit
- Defendant — a party who is being sued
- Response — a document filed with the clerk opposing a request from the other side
- Order — a decision by the court commanding or declining to command a party to act
- Default Judgment — an order ending the litigation when the defendant offers no response
- Dismissal — an order ending the litigation when the plaintiff has not made a proper claim
Success at the Complaint Stage
A Complaint is successful if it survives dismissal.
The Summons accompanying the complaint is successful when it puts a defendant on proper notice of the lawsuit.
Plaintiff’s Strategy
Plaintiff’s strategy at the Complaint stage is to ensure:
- proper jurisdiction (personal, subject matter)
- proper venue
- alleged facts support all elements of the claim
- allegation of harm
- proper service
A plaintiff must successfully ensure all of these factors.
Defendant’s Strategy
Defendant’s strategy at the Complaint stage is to show:
- improper jurisdiction (personal, subject matter)
- improper venue
- alleged facts fail to support elements of the claim
- lack of harm
- improper service
A defendant should successfully attack any of these factors.
Your Strategy
Take a moment to think about what YOUR strategy should be at the Complaint stage.
- Was the case filed in the right court?
- Are all elements of the claim(s) present in the complaint?
- Were all defendants properly served?
You should answer these questions no matter whether you’re a plaintiff or defendant in your case.
Transcript
Hi. I\’m Portia, and welcome to civil litigation one zero one. This is lesson two, the complaint stage.
Litigation is hard and scary, but it doesn\’t have to be. In this lesson, we\’ll look at how a lawsuit begins, the strategy at the complaint stage, and a few definitions. That\’s it.
Litigation isn\’t fun, but knowing more about it makes it easier and less scary. So let\’s go.
How does a lawsuit start?
It could start with something big, like a missed mortgage payment, or something frustrating, like a flooded basement, or something scary, like a car accident. In each scenario, there\’s a dispute and someone is harmed or injured.
The person harmed goes to the clerk\’s office and files a complaint against the person they believe injured them and has a summons delivered to that person.
The participants or parties in a court case are plaintiffs those who sue and defendants those being sued as you\’ll see in the next section strategies differ depending on these roles Now let\’s discuss effective strategies for the complaint stage of a lawsuit.
Parties in a lawsuit have vastly different goals. The plaintiff wants to avoid a dismissal by making the complaint rock solid.
The defendant wants to avoid a default judgment and get a dismissal by destroying the complaint.
The strategy for both parties focuses solely on the complaint, on what it contains, where it was filed, and how it was given to the defendant.
What should a plaintiff do to ensure an airtight complaint and avoid a dud?
The case must be filed in the proper jurisdiction, that is, a court authorized to handle it. It must also be filed in the right venue or convenient location for the defendant.
In the complaint, the plaintiff must state the facts and elements that support the claim as well as the harm done.
The summons must be properly served on or given to the defendant.
In short, the defendant must know he\’s being sued and why.
The defendant\’s strategy, to see the complaint punched full of holes and dismissed. A dud.
Everything that the plaintiff needed, flip it. The defendant needs the opposite. In his response, he\’s looking for weaknesses in jurisdiction, venue, facts, and the issue of harm and service.
He wishes the plaintiff would get one of these wrong. Just one.
Now it\’s your turn. Take a minute to think about what your strategy should be at the complaint stage.
Was the case filed at the right court? Are all elements of the claims present in the complaint?
Were all the defendants properly served?
You should answer these questions whether you\’re a plaintiff or defendant in the case.
We\’ve covered a lot of words so far, complaint, summons, dismissal, and jurisdiction to name a few.
Now let\’s look at a sprinkling of those words.