All Deck Flashcards
(216 cards)
Rule 11 Sanctions
claims w/o factual basis are not allowed, can impose sanctions to deter; you are certifying that facts have evidentiary support; on both law and facts, you have to do a reasonable inquiry under the circumstances that law supports case or evidentiary support.
Hunter v. Earthgrains
Title VII case. Judge sua sponte sanctions Hunter, but she challenging bad law and sister circuit courts ruling differently.
R - Losing legal position is not itself sanctionable
O-Rourke v. Dominion Voting Systems
election fraud conspiracy in the swing states leading to infringements of all kinds of rights.
R - Sanctionable. No good faith attempt to substantiate claims. Even copied from other cases. Even made jurisdiction case. Grounds for serious sanctions to deter future cases.
Safe Harbor Provision
Motion for sanctions must not be filed if it is appropriately corrected within 21 days after service (gives counsel 21 days to fix the problem, before filing motion for sanctions). -> purpose is deterrence not compensation
CODE PLEADING
requires that “ultimate facts” be alleged for every element of the cause of action. (CA is a code pleading state (and NY, Texas, and Illinois).
CCP 425.10 - code pleading pleadings standard
(a) A complaint or cross-complaint shall contain both of the following:
(1) A statement of the facts constituting the cause of action, in ordinary and concise language.
(2) Demand for judgment for relief to which pleader claims to be entitled. If money or damages are demanded, amount demanded shall be stated.
RULE: A complaint must allege the material, essential, and ultimate facts upon which P’s right of action is based; When a court considers a demurrer/MTD, it credits all the factual allegations as true.
Ultimate Facts – who, what, where, how? / in a skeletal version, don’t need all the evidence.
Gillispie v Goodyear Service Stores
- D trespassed upon premises occupied by P and assaulted her, P sued.
- Judgments sustained D’s demurrers are affirmed b/c P’s Complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute any cause of action.
- P does not allege in what manner D is indebted to P,
- P’s allegations do not disclose what occurred, when it occurred, who did what. Complaint is full of legal conclusions.
RULE: A complaint must allege the material, essential, and ultimate facts upon which P’s right of action is based
Nayab v. Capital One Bank
- Nayab appeals dismissal of FCRA claim for failure to state a claim.
- We accept factual allegations as true and view in most favorable to plaintiff, but still did not even state a claim. If everything you said is true, could you recover?
R - must state a claim for relief
Federal Complaint Pleading Standard
Give defendant notice of what the claim is; idea was simplicity and brevity; complaint must include a short and plain statement of the claim.
RULE (FRCP 8(a))
Must contain more than a statement of facts that merely create a suspicion of a legally conceivable right of action; look through complaint for legal conclusions and take them out and then look at what is left and ask yourself if factual allegations state a plausible claim.
A party must plead enough facts to make its claim “plausible” -> party had to allege enough facts to show that it was more than possible, but not necessarily probable.
Conley v. Gibson
1957 relaxed pleading standard. Twombly supersedes
Board of Harbor Commissioners
SICO filed for More Definite Statement on grounds that complaint was vague and ambiguous. Denied - if Rule 8 satisfied and notice of a claim, then 12e is denied
Swierkiewicz v Sorema
- Hungarian filed age and race discrimination
- President wanted to “energize” dept.
- P’s complaint detailed the events leading to his termination, provided relevant dates, included the ages and nationalities of at least some of the relevant persons involved with his termination
- (they replaced him with a younger guy who was French and only had one year of experience.)
- Court held that it was possible to infer discrimination from these allegations.
R “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.”
Bell Atlantic Corp. v Twombly
- P sued seeking damages alleging that D had conspired to restrain trade in two ways: engaged in parallel conduct and agreed not to compete with each other
- Bells not competing - Everything alleged is consistent with normal business practices so no agreement (Sherman Act)
- CEO competing easy dollar
- Twombly argued that from the two courses of parallel conduct, an agreement to restrain trade could be inferred.
Ashcroft v Iqbal
- P was arrested in U.S. and detained by federal officials.
- Alleges Ashcroft and Mueller, were chief architect, responsible for harsh conditions of confinement on account of his race, religion, or national origin.
- Discrimination is not plausible b/c policy was singling out people who were possibly connected with the terrorists.
- There is an obvious more plausible explanation.
- Qualified immunity 2 step test -
R - Ignore conclusory allegations, then see if the rest is more plausible than “obvious alternative explanation”. *Standard higher for qualified immunity cases.
Erickson v Pardus
- P was receiving Hep C treatment.
- Prison officials stopped P’s treatment due to syringe missing.
- P would have to wait 18 months before receiving treatment.
- P alleges cruel and unusual punishment.
- P alleged removal of Hep C treatment was endangering his life.
R - Pro se complaints must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers; Ps allegations were sufficient. Anything attached to complaint counts.
Palin v. NYT
- NYT posted article about Palin’s PAC map with crosshairs and said connected to shootings of democratic political officials.
- Palin argues that guy was politically motivated, was the editor so should have known, and had URL link.
- Test is whether complaint is plausible, not less plausible than an alternative expl. (Iqbal - but Iqbal maybe about qualified immunity)
Department of Homeland v Regents
- Regents sued DHS for rescinding DACA.
- Regents alleged that acting secretary of DHS violated Administrative Procedure Act by failing to adequately address important factors bearing on her decisions.
- Unusual timing of the rescinding.
- Court concludes that DHS violated APA in rescinding DACA but precludes Regents from seeking claim under the equal protection clause.
R - still plausibility I guess?
Trump v. Maher
Transcript. Orangutan. Birth Certificate. Trump withdrew complaint because clearly a joke - did not claim plausible things
McCormick v Kopmann
Lewis Mccormick was killed when a truck operated by D collided with his car.
- widow sued Kopmann and the tavern owner.
- Widow sued on two counts: Count I – alleging that Kopmann negligently drove his truck across center line and collided with Mccormicks automobile and Count IV – alleged that Hills sold alcoholic beverages to Mccormick which rendered him intoxicated and b/c of intoxication he drove car in a manner to cause a collision.
- D moved to dismiss b.c claims were contradicting.
- R - Court denied motion to dismiss, b/c claims may be made in the alternative regardless of consistency.
Colgate v JUUL Labs
FRCP 9 - who, what, how, when and where.
- Colgate suing claiming JUUL is misleading people into thinking JUUL is better than cigarettes.
- JUUL promoted that it is safer and less addictive, but it is not.
- Most of the P’s were dismissed b/c they did not specify the deceptive ads they saw (the where).
R - must state fraud with particularity (FRCP 9)
Types of Complaints
Complaint - P sues D
Counter-Complaint - D sues P
Cross-Complaint - D1 sues D2 (both party to case)
3rd Party Complaint - D brings in another D and say they are responsible
Joinder of Claims
a party asserting a claim, counterclaim, crossclaim, or third-party claim may join, as independent or alternative claims, as many claims as it has against an opposing party. (it’s the wild wild west with claims)
Joinder of Parties
FRCP 20
Plaintiffs who may join or may be joined if:
- they assert right to relief
- arises out of the same transaction or occurence
- common question of law or fact