Pleading
From LawGuru Wiki
Template:CivilProcedure In the law, a pleading is one of the papers filed with a court in a civil action, such as a complaint, a demurrer, or an answer. A complaint is the first pleading filed by a plaintiff which initiates a lawsuit. A complaint sets forth the relevant allegations of fact that give rise to one or more legal causes of action along with a prayer for relief whereas a demurrer is a pleading filed by a defendant which challenges the legal sufficiency of a complaint and an answer is a pleading which admits or denies the specific allegations set forth in a complaint and constitutes a general appearance by a defendant. A defendant may also file a cross-complaint as well as bringing other parties into a case by the process of interpleader.
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Types of pleading
Common law pleading
Common law pleading was the system of civil procedure used in England, where each cause of action had its own separate procedures. Because the list of causes eligble for consideration was capped early during the development of the English legal system, claims that might be acceptable to the evolving court often did not match up perfectly with any of the established causes. Lawyers had to engage in great ingenuity to shoehorn their clients' claims into the necessary "elements" required to bring an action.
Code pleading
Code pleading was introduced in the 1850s in New York and California. Code pleading unified civil procedure for all types of actions as much as possible, and the required elements of each action are set out in carefully codified statutes.
However, code pleading was criticized because many lawyers felt that it was too difficult to fully research all the facts needed to bring a complaint before one had even initiated the action, and thus meritorious plaintiffs could not bring their complaints in time before the statute of limitations expired.
Notice pleading
Notice pleading is the dominant regime in the United States today. In notice pleading, the plaintiff is required to state in their initial complaint only a short and plain statement of their cause of action. The idea is that a plaintiff and their attorney who have a reasonable but not perfect case can file a complaint first, put the other side on notice of the lawsuit, and then strengthen their case by compelling the defendant to produce evidence during the discovery phase.
Alternative pleading
Alternative pleading is a legal fiction permitting a party argue two mutually exclusive possibilities. -- for example, submitting an injury complaint alleging that the harm to the defendant caused by the plaintiff was so outrageous that it must have either been intended as a malicious attack or, if not, must have been due to gross negligence. (Example drawn from Law.com dictionary.) While some such arguments may seem reasonable, motions that are deemed to contain alternative pleadings are generally denied -- the law requires that cases be built on a single set of facts.
