INSTRUCTIONS FOR CIVIL PROCEDURE PROJECT, PART II AND VOCABULARY SHEET:

Download the Civil Procedure Project, Part II Pleading Form under Course Resources along with this document. Also, open the following links to Rules 7, 8, 10, 11 and 38 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (abbreviated Fed.R.Civ.P.):

Rule 7: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_7Links to an external site.

Rule 8: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_8Links to an external site.

Rule 10: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_10Links to an external site.

Rule 11: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11Links to an external site.

Rule 38: https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_38Links to an external site.

Read the Pleading Form. On it, you will find questions annotated in the margins and white spaces. There are 15 questions. The answers to those questions are found in Fed.R.Civ.P. 7, 8, 10, 11 and 38 and in the Vocabulary Sheet. You should be somewhat familiar with the concepts and terminology used, but you won't have seen all of it from your textbook readings. Never fear because the rules and the vocabulary sheet make it much easier. But, you must read the Pleading Form, the questions, the rules and the vocabulary sheet to property answer the questions. It isn't difficult, but it is a new way of reading that may challenge you somewhat.

THE ANSWERS ARE QUITE SHORT FOR EACH QUESTION. SOME ARE FILL-IN-THE-BLANK. SOME SIMPLY ASK YOU TO CITE A SPECIFIC RULE OR EXPLAIN A CONCEPT.

TYPE THE ANSWERS ON A DOCUMENT IN MS WORD OR GOOGLE DOCS AND UPLOAD IT. THIS PART OF THE CIVIL PROCEDURE PROJECT IS WORTH 100 TOTAL POINTS.

Check your Syllabus and Course Summary information for the due date.

Good luck!

Civil Procedure Project, Part II Vocabulary: (Use this AND the rules from the Fed.R.Civ.P. linked above AND the Pleading Form to complete the project.)

Civil Procedure Project, Part II contains an initial pleading from an actual court case filed in federal court in California. The pleading form is annotated with 15 questions. Some of the questions simply ask you to label portions of the pleading, but others ask you to cite specifically from selected Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (abbreviated Fed.R.Civ.P.), or to offer explanations from the language of those selected rules.

Since you may need a little help knowing what some of the words and phrases in those rules mean, this vocabulary sheet is intended to furnish you with definitions you may need to complete the project successfully. Have this vocabulary handy when reading the selected Fed.R.Civ.P. for the project and while completing the project.

The following terms supplement the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that are provided for you in Civil Procedure Project, Part II. Some definitions are taken from the Black's Law Dictionary, 2^nd Edition (Public Domain), and were accessed from http://www.freelawdictionary.orgLinks to an external site. and contain supplemental comments to help make them more understandable.

Allege/Allegation - A factual statement made in a pleading but not yet proven to be true in court.

Answer - A pleading listed in Fed.R.Civ.P. 7, filed by a defendant to respond to the allegations in a Complaint filed by a plaintiff in a civil action. So, an answer is a "responsive pleading".

Caption - In any pleading or motion or similar document filed in court, the part of the document, at the top of the first page, containing all of the items listed in Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(a), including the title.

Claim for Relief - For purposes of this assignment, in Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a), it is the sum total of a Complaint.

Complaint -- In civil practice. In those states having a Code of Civil Procedure, the complaint is the first or initiatory pleading on the part of the plaintiff in a civil action or lawsuite

A complaint sets out the plaintiff's version of the facts and specifies the damages; it frames the issues in the case. It will typically include sections called counts.

Counts - In the pleading known as a Complaint, the plaintiff will set forth distinct statements explaining the plaintiff's cause of action, stating the facts and legal grounds for the Complaint. Refer to Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(b).

Demand - in pleading or motions filed in court, a demand is a request.

"Incorporated by reference" or "adopted by reference" - Two phrases with the same meaning, used most often in a Complaint where the numbered paragraphs have already set forth in some detail the allegations. Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(c) allows separate counts to adopt earlier paragraphs without having to repeat them all in each count where they form the factual or legal grounds for that count and the relief requested. It helps keep pleadings shorter, less confusing and more easily readable.

Jurisdiction - the power of a court to say what the law is about a subject matter or about a person, corporation, business or government. Throughout the Fed.R.Civ.P., this word "jurisdiction" appears. Jurisdiction typically must be alleged in a complaint under Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a). It almost always refers to EITHER "personal jurisdiction" or "subject matter jurisdiction". See further explanation below:

"Personal jurisdiction" - the power of a court to force or compel the physical presence of a person, corporation, governmental agency or some other entity, and to say what the law is in a given matter as it applies to that person, etc. Personal jurisdiction is based on a person's presence, residence, activity or business dealings in the particular State. Courts always have personal jurisdiction over the residents of the state where the court sits, for example.

"Subject matter jurisdiction" - the power of a court to say what the law is on a given subject, controversy or dispute. Subject matter jurisdiction may be given to a court by a statute or by long held legal principles. For example, Federal courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction in divorce cases; only state courts may try divorce cases. By the same token, by Federal statute only Federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction to hear cases involving patents and copyrights; state courts cannot hear such cases. Many matters may be heard by either state or federal courts; in such cases each of them may be said to have "subject matter jurisdiction".

"Prayer for relief" or "demand for relief" - Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(3) uses the phrase "demand for relief", but pleaders often use the phrase "prayer for relief". They mean the same thing: the pleader's specific request for the exact "relief" he/she/they/it seeks (money damages, force the defendant to do something, force the defendant to stop doing something, draw new property lines, etc.).

Relief - what the Plaintiff really wants to accomplish or get by filing a Complaint

"Rule 7(a) designation" - a phrase found in Fed.R.Civ.P. 10(a) which refers back to the list of filing types found in Fed.R.Civ.P. 7(a). In this assignment the Rule 7(a) designation is found in the caption and describes which type of pleading is being filed.

Title (also known as the "style" of a case) -- That portion of the caption that contains only the names of the parties and the position in which a party appears in a filing (for example, Plaintiff and Defendant). A title is part of a caption.

Venue - the physical location of the court where a case is heard. Venue is determined by a number of factors such as where the parties to a case live, do business or are located, where the actions that form the reasons for litigation occurred, and other factors such as venue statutes that prescribe where specific kinds of cases must be heard.