Misplaced Pages

#448551

41-412: In Civil Law, a "complaint" is the first formal action taken to officially begin a lawsuit. This written document contains the allegations against the defense, the specific laws violated, the facts that led to the dispute, and any demands made by the plaintiff to restore justice. In some jurisdictions, specific types of criminal cases may also be commenced by the filing of a complaint, also sometimes called

82-651: A criminal complaint or felony complaint . Most criminal cases are prosecuted in the name of the governmental authority that promulgates criminal statutes and enforces the police power of the state with the goal of seeking criminal sanctions , such as the State (also sometimes called the People) or Crown (in Commonwealth realms ). In the United States, the complaint is often associated with misdemeanor criminal charges presented by

123-425: A party may serve a summons and complaint in a civil case. The defendant must submit an answer within 21 days after being served with the summons and complaint, or request a waiver , according to FRCP Rule 12. After the civil complaint has been served to the defendants, the plaintiff must, as soon as practicable initiate a conference between the parties to plan for the rest of the discovery process and then

164-458: A summons – an official summary document which the plaintiff needs to have served together with the complaint. The defendants have limited time to respond, depending on the State or Federal rules. A defendant's failure to answer a complaint can result in a default judgment in favor of the petitioner. For example, in United States federal courts , any person who is at least 18 years old and not

205-726: A body of judges. By the early-twentieth century, some judges expressed concern that the Justice Department's administrative oversight of the courts was ineffective and, more importantly, posed the threat of interference with the judicial process. Reform proposals ranged from separate appropriation bills for the courts to the authorization of senior circuit judges as administrators for all the courts within their respective circuits. Some circuits established conferences of judges to discuss problems of case management and court administration . The Roosevelt administration's Judicial Reorganization Bill of 1937 , best known for its provision to enlarge

246-534: A clear relation to some legitimate legislative purpose. Beyond those outer limits... most courts stayed out of the way of state police power." Later court cases have expanded somewhat on these restrictions by limiting the ability of states to infringe upon implied constitutional rights and by demanding a stricter standard of reasonability , but regulation of police power remains fairly minimal. Federal police power has been defined by Supreme Court rulings. In affirming that Congress has limited power to enact legislation,

287-446: A form from another state to fit his or her request. Several United States federal courts publish general guidelines for the petitioners and Civil Rights complaint forms. A complaint generally has the following structural elements: After the complaint has been filed with the court, it has to be properly served to the opposite parties, but usually petitioners are not allowed to serve the complaint personally. The court also can issue

328-558: Is distinct from the government's taking of private property through the power of eminent domain —under the authority of the police power, a private property owner is not typically entitled to compensation. The decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the case Commonwealth v. Alger  (1851) was related to land-use planning and dealt with the construction of a wharf on privately-owned tidelands around Boston Harbor. Administrative Office of

369-597: Is exercised by the legislative and executive branches of the various states through the enactment and enforcement of laws and regulations . States have the power to compel obedience to these laws through whatever measures they see fit, provided these measures do not infringe upon any of the rights protected by the United States Constitution or their own state constitutions and are not unreasonably arbitrary or oppressive. Methods of enforcement can include legal sanctions and physical means . Controversies over

410-523: Is yours so as not to injure others"), and salus populi suprema lex esto ("the welfare of the people shall be the supreme law"), to justify restriction of individual liberties in order to protect the general welfare. The concept of police power in America was further expanded in a series of notable court cases in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, including the landmark 1851 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court case Commonwealth v. Alger , and

451-660: The Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system to obtain case and docket information from the United States district courts , United States courts of appeals , and United States bankruptcy courts . The system is managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts ; it allows lawyers and self-represented clients to obtain documents entered in the case much faster than regular mail. In addition to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure , many of

SECTION 10

#1732852832449

492-518: The Supreme Court , included provision for appointment of a proctor who would gather data on the business of the courts and make recommendations for reassignment of judges and improved case management. Many district court judges resisted this centralization of authority over individual courts that had operated with so much autonomy for a century and a half, but there was widespread support for some reform that would facilitate judicial business and eliminate

533-582: The Treasury Department to the Interior Department in 1849 and to the Justice Department in 1870. (The Conference of Senior Circuit Judges , established in 1922, was an advisory body.) By the late 1930s, a coalition of judges, lawyers, academics, and Justice Department officials agreed that the efficient administration of justice, as well as the principle of judicial independence, required a separate agency with officers appointed by and responsible to

574-663: The U.S. district courts have developed their own requirements included in Local Rules for filing with the Court. Local Rules can set up a limit on the number of pages, establish deadlines for motions and responses, explain whether it is acceptable to combine a motion petition with a response, specify if a judge needs an additional copy of the documents (called "judge's copy"), etc. Local Rules can define page layout elements like: margins , text font/size , distance between lines, mandatory footer text, page numbering , and provide directions on how

615-478: The police power is the capacity of the states and the federal government to regulate behavior and enforce order within their territory for the betterment of the health , safety , morals , and general welfare of their inhabitants. Police power is defined in each jurisdiction by the legislative body, which determines the public purposes that need to be served by legislation. Under the Tenth Amendment to

656-667: The 1905 Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts . Due to the nebulous definition of the police power, restrictions on its use are few and far between. In Commonwealth v. Alger , Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw wrote that "It is much easier to perceive and realize the existence and sources of [the police power] than to mark its boundaries, or prescribe limits to exercise." However, according to historian Michael Willrich, "Shaw recognized certain constitutional restraints on police power, but they were few. Laws must apply equally to all under like circumstances... government interferences with individual rights must be 'reasonable' – they must have

697-864: The AO (currently Robert J. Conrad ) serves as Secretary of the Judicial Conference and is appointed, along with the deputy director (currently Lee Ann Bennett), by the chief justice of the United States . The AO includes an Office of the General Counsel, Office of Judicial Conference Executive Secretariat, Office of Public Affairs, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Judges Programs, Office of Court Administration, Office of Human Resources, Office of Finance and Budget, Office of Facilities and Security, Office of Defender Services, U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System , Office of Information Technology, and an Office of Internal Services. The Administrative Office of

738-557: The Justice Department's role in the daily operations of the federal courts. After the defeat of Roosevelt's " court-packing " plan, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes responded to suggestions for less sweeping administrative changes. He appointed members of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges to work with representatives of the American Bar Association and Justice Department officials to draft legislation that would improve

779-667: The Supreme Court to select the director of the Administrative Office, but, at the insistence of Chief Justice Hughes, the office was to operate under the supervision of the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges rather than the Court. The committee proposal found broad support in both the Senate and House of Representatives, which considered several versions before passage in August 1939. The act established circuit judicial councils through which

820-408: The U.S. Courts was established by an act of Congress on November 6, 1939. With the establishment of the Administrative Office and the circuit judicial councils , Congress for the first time provided the judiciary with budgetary and personnel management agencies that were independent of the executive branch of government. For 150 years, administrative responsibility for the federal courts shifted from

861-515: The United States Constitution , the powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people. As a result, the police power is primarily concentrated within state governments, while the federal government possesses it in limited contexts where it has an express power, such as over conduct occurring within the territories of the United States and activities related to interstate commerce . Police power

SECTION 20

#1732852832449

902-589: The United States Courts The Administrative Office of the United States Courts , or the Administrative Office ( AO ) for short, is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system , established in 1939. The central support entity for the federal judicial branch , the AO provides a wide range of legislative ( legislative assistance ), administrative , legal , financial , management , program ( program evaluation ), and information technology support services to

943-410: The United States. The mission of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is to provide a variety of support functions to the United States federal judiciary . The AO prepares and submits the budget for the courts to the Judicial Conference for approval by Congress. It analyzes legislation from Congress that will affect the courts' operations or personnel, and it interprets and applies

984-480: The case, as it moves through the court system. There are also freely accessible web search engines to assist parties in finding court decisions that can be cited in the complaint as an example or analogy to resolve similar questions of law. Google Scholar is the biggest database of full text state and federal courts decisions that can be accessed without charge. These web search engines often allow one to select specific state courts to search. Federal courts created

1025-540: The court ruled in United States v. Lopez (1995) that "The Constitution...withhold[s] from Congress a plenary police power that would authorize enactment of every type of legislation." In United States v. Morrison (2000), the court invalidated a provision of a federal law on violent crime. The court stated, "The regulation and punishment of intrastate violence that is not directed at the instrumentalities, channels, or goods involved in interstate commerce has always been

1066-406: The court's permission to file some exhibits completely under seal . A minor 's name of the petitions should be replaced with initials . A person making a redacted filing can file an unredacted copy under seal, or the Court can choose to order later that an additional filing be made under seal without redaction. Copies of both redacted and unredacted documents filed with court should be provided to

1107-551: The courts of appeals judges would review the caseload reports of the Administrative Office and instruct district judges on what was necessary to expedite the courts' business. It also mandated annual circuit conferences at which circuit and district judges would meet with members of the bar to discuss judicial administration. In preparation for the planned retirement of Director Roslynn R. Mauskopf on January 31, 2024, Chief Justice John Roberts , on January 23, 2024, appointed Western District of NC senior judge Robert J. Conrad to be

1148-424: The efficiency of the courts at the same time that it respected the decentralized character of the federal judicial system. The committee's proposed that the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts would collect information on the caseload of the courts, prepare the annual budget request for the courts and disburse funds appropriated to the judiciary, and offer administrative assistance to the courts. The act authorized

1189-651: The exercise of state police power can arise when exercise by state authorities conflicts with individual rights and freedoms. Most criminal cases are prosecuted in the name of the governmental authority that promulgates criminal statutes and enforces the police power of the state with the goal of seeking criminal sanctions . The authority for use of police power under American Constitutional law has its roots in English and European common law traditions. Even more fundamentally, use of police power draws on two Latin principles, sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas ("use that which

1230-679: The federal courts. It is directly supervised by the Judicial Conference of the United States , the body that sets the national and legislative policy of the federal judiciary and is composed of the chief justice , chief judge of each court of appeals , a district court judge from each regional judicial circuit , and the chief judge of the United States Court of International Trade . The AO implements and executes Judicial Conference policies, as well as applicable federal statutes and regulations. The office facilitates communications within

1271-405: The filings made with the court and accompanying exhibits, (exhibits normally do not need to be attached to the original complaint, but should be presented to Court after the discovery ). The redacted text can be erased with black-out or white-out, and the page should have an indication that it was redacted - most often by stamping word "redacted" on the bottom. Alternately, the filing party may ask

Complaint - Misplaced Pages Continue

1312-413: The judiciary and with Congress , the executive branch , and the public on behalf of the judiciary . Administrative Office lawyers , public administrators , accountants , systems engineers , analysts, architects , statisticians , and other staff provide a wide variety of professional services to meet the needs of judges and more than 32,000 Judiciary employees working in more than 800 locations across

1353-479: The new laws. It also provides administrative help to members of the courts in the form of clerks , probation and pretrial services officers, court reporters , and public defenders . It also works together with the General Services Administration to develop and operate suitable accommodations for federal courts, either in federal buildings or in standalone federal courthouses . The director of

1394-495: The opposing party files a Motion for Sanctions and the court issue an order identifying the sanctioned conduct and the basis for the sanction. The losing party has a right to appeal any order for sanctions in the higher court. In the state courts, each party is generally responsible only for its own attorney fees, with certain exceptions. In 1883, the Rules of the Supreme Court replaced the term complaint with statement of claim . This

1435-407: The other parties in the case . Some courts also require that an additional electronic courtesy copy be emailed to the other parties. Before filing the complaint, it is important for plaintiff(s) to remember that Federal courts can impose liability for the prevailing party's attorney fees to the losing party, if the judge considers the case frivolous or for purposes of harassment, even when the case

1476-542: The pages need to be bound together – i.e. acceptable fasteners , number and location of fastening holes , etc. If the filed motion does not comply with the Local Rules then the judge can choose to strike the motion completely, or order the party to re-file its motion, or grant a special exception to the Local Rules. According to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 5.2 , sensitive text like Social Security number , Taxpayer Identification Number , birthday , bank accounts and children 's names, should be redacted from

1517-422: The parties should submit a proposed discovery plan to the judge within 14 days after the conference. In many U.S. jurisdictions, a complaint submitted to a court must be accompanied by a Case Information Statement , which sets forth specific key information about the case and the lawyers representing the parties . This allows the judge to make determinations about which deadlines to set for different phases of

1558-410: The prosecutor without the grand jury process. In most U.S. jurisdictions, the charging instrument presented to and authorized by a grand jury is referred to as an indictment . Virtually every U.S. state has some forms available on the web for most common complaints for lawyers and self-representing litigants; if a petitioner cannot find an appropriate form in their state, they often can modify

1599-686: The province of the States...[W]e can think of no better example of the police power, which the Founders denied the National Government and reposed in the States, than the suppression of violent crime..." The police power is the basis for land-use planning authority in the United States. This authority is usually delegated by state governments to local governments, including counties and municipalities, which most frequently exercise police power in land-use planning matters. Such regulation based on police power

1640-620: Was then replaced in 1998 with particulars of claim by the Civil Procedure Rules , which also replaced the word plaintiff with claimant as part of a drastic reform of English legal terminology. Thus, in England and Wales, a claimant now initiates a claim by filing a claim form (instead of a writ of summons), and either pleads particulars of claim on the claim form itself or as a separate document. Police power (United States constitutional law) In United States constitutional law ,

1681-459: Was voluntarily dismissed. In the case of Fox v. Vice , the U.S. Supreme Court held that reasonable attorneys' fees could be awarded to the defendant under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1988, but only for costs that the defendant would not have incurred "but for the frivolous claims." Even when there is no actual trial or judgment, if there is only pre-trial motion practice such as motions to dismiss, attorney fee shifting still can be awarded under FRCP Rule 11 when

Complaint - Misplaced Pages Continue

#448551