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Things to know about starting a lawsuit
- Overview of the Complaint stage
- When to file a complaint
- Purpose of the complaint
- Commencing litigation
- Initial court filings
Parts of a complaint
- Sample complaint
- What should the complaint include?
- Caption and parties
- The title
- The body
- The verification
- The certificate of service
A checklist for a good complaint
- The complaint’s worst enemy…
- Plaintiff’s checklist
- Defendant’s checklist
- Jurisdiction and venue
- The facts
- Cause of action
- Prayer for relief
- The summons
- Service of process
Transcript
Hi. It\’s Matt again, and this is civil procedure at the complaint stage, lesson two of our course, introduction to civil procedure.
Lesson two will cover things to know about starting a lawsuit, parts of a complaint, and a checklist for a good complaint.
The complaint stage starts when someone is harmed or injured and the injured party or plaintiff files a complaint against the party that caused them harm. At this stage, writing the complaint and summons, serving the summons, and avoiding dismissal will be challenges for you. That\’s why your best friend is the rules of civil procedure for your jurisdiction.
When should you file a complaint? Consider the statute of limitations. It tells you the amount of time you have to file. You should also consider the potential for harm in delaying or rushing a lawsuit, and as a pro se litigant, you should also be mindful of the amount of time it takes to do research in preparation for filing.
The complaint is typically the first document filed in litigation. Court clerks have complaint forms you can complete, but writing your own gives you more power and flexibility.
The complaint lists events giving rise to the cause of action, establishes the legal and jurisdictional basis for the litigation, notifies defendants of the claim, and lays the groundwork for settlement.
Before filing a complaint, think two steps ahead. Determine what you\’ll do if the defendant doesn\’t respond and what you\’ll do if he does. It\’s also important to file within the deadline and understand the elements or things you need in order to prove your claim.
With the complaint, you should include the summons, a statement about service of process, and exhibits.
If you write your own complaint, the layout is similar to any other pleading. Here, there\’s a complaint, verification, and a certificate of service.
The complaint has a caption, a title, a body, signature, verification, and certificate of service. It might also have exhibits attached.
In the caption, you want the name of the Courtroom5, jurisdiction, the name of the parties, and additional information like case numbers or court division number.
The title should be accurate, descriptive, and clear.
The body begins with an introduction and includes necessary parts like a statement about jurisdiction and venue, a statement of facts, the cause or causes of action, the harm done, and the prayer for relief, which is a statement telling the judge what you would like as a result of your injury.
A verification is a declaration under oath that a pleading is true. Once you\’re done writing your complaint, have it notarized. This will satisfy the verification requirement.
Always include a certificate of service with pleadings and motions. Place it at the end of the complaint and file it with the clerk along with the complaint.
For a plaintiff, the strategy at the complaint stage is to avoid a dismissal. For the defendant, the strategy is to get a dismissal.
To avoid a dismissal, the plaintiff must consult the rules of civil procedure to ensure that the case is filed in the proper jurisdiction and venue, that facts support elements of the claim, that he alleges harm by defendant, and that the defendant is properly served.
To get a dismissal, the defendant only has to show that one thing from the checklist is either missing or wasn\’t done properly.
As plaintiff, you must assure that the court you choose has jurisdiction or authority over both the defendant and the subject matter and that the complaint is filed in the proper venue or location.
The plaintiff must write a story with facts that support the claim and show standing. That is, facts must show that the person suing is the person who has been harmed. The plaintiff should state the harm in the way the defendant caused the harm.
A cause of action is essentially a right to sue. The plaintiff must find the statute that gives him a cause of action, then he must determine the elements or ingredients required to prove the cause of action. Someone suing for negligence, for instance, has three elements to prove, a duty, a breach of duty, and an injury to the plaintiff.
All the elements must be present in order to establish a prima facie case.
That is, the facts must be presented in such a way that if later proven true, could result in a victory for the plaintiff.
If the plaintiff does not present a prima facie case, the defendant could get a dismissal.
Causes of action include negligence, breach of contract, slander, and so on.
The plaintiff wants something for his or her cause of action or injury. Is it money, or is it custody? Is it an order for someone to cease a particular behavior? Whatever it is, the plaintiff must say it in what is called the prayer for relief.
The summons is a court order that notifies the defendant or defendants of the claim where the case is to be heard, sets the time limit to answer, and describes the consequences of a nonresponse.
The summons can also order the defendant to appear in court at a scheduled time.
The summons is delivered to the defendant along with the complaint. This is referred to as service of process. If the plaintiff follows all the rules for service of process and the defendant does not show up in court or does not answer the complaint, the plaintiff can get a default judgment. That is a judgment against the defendant. But if the plaintiff fails to properly serve the summons and complaint, the defendant can move for dismissal.
To summarize, in things to know about starting a lawsuit, we discovered the basics of the complaint stage, like the purpose of the complaint and when to file. Then we looked at parts of a complaint, including the caption, body, and certificate of service. In a checklist for a good complaint, our discussion focused on ways to avoid dismissal or find grounds for one.
Next up, civil procedure at the answer stage.