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Civil Procedure 10 55287_CH10_FINAL.qxp:_ 11/2/09 12:21 PM Page 225 Civil Procedure 10 What Is This Chapter About? A large proportion of the caseload of the courts, state and federal, involves the resolution of civil disputes. The This chapter examines the rules of civil procedure and process through which such claims are resolved is gov- topics related to the process of pursuing a civil claim in erned by distinct rules that specify the way in which all the courts. Using the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as a aspects of the case are to proceed. Civil procedure refers to guide, we begin by considering the positions of plaintiffs this process and the specific ways in which litigants must and defendants as litigation is contemplated, who may be present their cases for resolution by a court. The methods a party to a civil suit, and who may join the litigation. available to litigants and their attorneys in accomplishing In this chapter, we also discuss the forms and pur- their goals by obtaining the relief they desire are therefore poses of pleading. The chapter focuses on the contents of the subject of civil procedure. complaints, answers, and replies, as well as various Although the procedural civil law is distinct from the motions that “test” the plaintiff’s claims or the defen- substantive civil law, it shares both statutory and case law dant’s counterclaims. sources. In addition, courts at each level develop rules that The process of discovery is examined in some detail. govern the flow of cases through the courts. Moreover, in This includes the use of interrogatories and requests for some cases, the procedures themselves overshadow the orig- production of documents, as well as the use of requests for inal dispute and become the focus of the litigation or the admissions. In addition, the purpose of depositions and subject of a subsequent appeal. As a result, the topic of civil the manner in which they are conducted are explored. The procedure is not stagnant; rather, its application in a great resolution of discovery disputes is also examined. variety of civil lawsuits results in the continuing develop- Rules governing the trial process are also a central ment of the law of civil procedure and the effect of this form focus of this chapter. The process of requesting and select- of law on court processes and the outcome of cases. ing a jury and creating a trial theme is discussed. The pres- The goal of civil procedural rules is to provide a fair and entation of evidence and the use of subpoenas are just means of resolving disputes, while also creating an effi- considered, objections and trial motions examined, and cient method for processing cases. That is, when all parties jury instructions discussed. Posttrial matters, judgments, to a dispute have a shared understanding of how the litiga- and appeals are also explored. tion will proceed and what the court will require in order to resolve it, the court proceeding will be fair to all parties in the sense that it does not create an advantage for one party Learning Objectives over another. As stated in Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), which have been adopted by the U.S. After reading this chapter, you should be able to Supreme Court to govern civil procedure in the federal 1. Understand how civil procedure relates to the sub- courts, the rules of civil procedure “should be construed and stantive civil law. administered to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive 2. Understand the purpose of pleading. determination of every action and proceeding.” This does 3. Explain the function and contents of a complaint not mean, however, that attorneys or their clients do not or and an answer. should not use the procedural rules to their advantage. The 4. Describe the types and purposes of pretrial motions. American system of justice is an adversarial one. This means 5. Explain the methods and purposes of discovery. that the law, both substantive and procedural, may be used 6. Describe the functions of pretrial conferences. as both a sword and a shield because it governs the manner 7. Understand the types and purposes of trial motions. in which both sides of a case will proceed. The courts, the 8. Explain the relative roles of judge and jury. parties, and society itself therefore benefit from procedural 9. Understand the basis for an appeal and the final rules by balancing fairness to the parties with the efficiencies judgment rule. that rules may create. 225 © Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION. 55287_CH10_FINAL.qxp:_ 11/2/09 12:21 PM Page 226 Generally, a civil lawsuit involves three categories of showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” The rule did procedures: pleading, discovery, and trial processes. Each not come about by happenstance and its language is not of these processes is necessary to resolve disputes that are inadvertent. The English experience with Byzantine spe- brought before a court in a civil trial. The rules of civil cial pleading rules—illustrated by the hypertechnical procedures specify the requirements of each category as Hilary rules of 1834—made obvious the appeal of a plead- ing standard that was easy for the common litigant to they develop in a civil lawsuit. understand and sufficed to put the defendant on notice as to the nature of the claim against him and the relief Pleading sought. Stateside, David Dudley Field developed the highly influential New York Code of 1848, which required The term “pleading” refers to documents that are filed “[a] statement of the facts constituting the cause of action, with a court, but not just any document may be filed. in ordinary and concise language, without repetition, and Only those that comply with the local, state, or federal in such a manner as to enable a person of common under- rules of civil procedure and that serve a particular purpose standing to know what is intended.” An Act to Simplify in accordance with those rules will be considered and and Abridge the Practice, Pleadings and Proceedings of acted on by the court. Thus, the form a pleading takes will the Courts of this State, ch. 379, § 120(2), 1848 N.Y. Laws have an effect on the progress of the litigation. Specifically, pp. 497, 521. Substantially similar language appeared in pleadings help to “frame” a lawsuit. That is, they specify the Federal Equity Rules adopted in 1912. See Fed. Equity Rule 25 (requiring “a short and simple statement of the what gave rise to the case and what the litigation will be ultimate facts upon which the plaintiff asks relief, omit- about, the law that will help to resolve it, and the terms on ting any mere statement of evidence”). which the parties believe it should be resolved. A difficulty arose, however, in that the Field Code and A pleading may take one of many forms depending its progeny required a plaintiff to plead “facts” rather than upon its purpose. The most basic and necessary pleadings “conclusions,” a distinction that proved far easier to say are the civil Complaint and the Answer. These are pre- than to apply. As commentators have noted, it is virtually pared and filed by the plaintiff and the defendant, respec- impossible logically to distinguish among ‘ultimate facts,’ tively, and allow each party to set forth initial positions ‘evidence,’ and ‘conclusions.’ Essentially any allegation in with respect to the claims being made. This includes, to a a pleading must be an assertion that certain occurrences limited extent in these initial pleadings, the facts and the took place. The pleading spectrum, passing from evidence through ultimate facts to conclusions, is largely a contin- law that comprise the case. Motions (and briefs in support uum varying only in the degree of particularity with of the motions) are pleadings that may be filed by either which the occurrences are described. Weinstein & Distler, party in order to accomplish a specific goal. Because Comments on Procedural Reform: Drafting Pleading judges in civil lawsuits largely play a passive role in deter- Rules, 57 Colum. L.Rev. 518, 520–521 (1957). mining the legal claims presented, motions are used to ask Rule 8 was directly responsive to this difficulty. Its the judge to take some action, based on the facts or the drafters intentionally avoided any reference to “facts” or law or both. “evidence” or “conclusions.” Under the relaxed pleading standards of the Federal The Complaint Rules, the idea was not to keep litigants out of court but rather to keep them in. The merits of a claim would be A civil Complaint is a pleading that initiates a civil lawsuit. sorted out during a flexible pretrial process and, as appro- It states the legal basis for claims being made by the plain- priate, through the crucible of trial. Charles E. Clark, the tiff and the facts to support those claims. FRCP Rule 8 “principal draftsman” of the Federal Rules, put it thus: states that a complaint need only contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is Experience has shown . that we cannot expect the proof entitled to relief.” In order to be legally sufficient under of the case to be made through the pleadings, and that FRCP Rule 8(a), the Complaint must accomplish three such proof is really not their function. We can expect a things: invoke the jurisdiction of the court by stating the general statement distinguishing the case from all others, basis for the court’s jurisdiction, state the cause(s) of action so that the manner and form of trial and remedy expected or legal claims and how the elements of those claims are are clear, and so that a permanent judgment will result.
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