1. WHERE WE ARE & WHAT WE’RE DOING
Pleadings
Complaint
Answer
12(b) Motions
Amended
Pleadings
Pre-Trial
Trial & Post-Trial
Appeal

2. PLEADING The Complaint
Task 1: The Law
Elements?
Explicit v. Implicit
Task 2: The Facts
Include?
How specific?
Task 3: The Format
Details, details, details

3. THE HERNANDEZ’S COMPLAINT p. 404
“Sufficiency of the complaint”
Law provide relief?
Claim adequately described?

4. STATING A CLAIM The “Elements” of a Claim
Common Law Claims
Tort Contract
Duty Formation of K
Breach Breach
Causation Causation
Damages Damages

5. THE HERNANDEZ’S COMPLAINT A Redraft
[Breach] Defendant D.O.T.
negligently designed a portion of Highway 101 [specify location] without an adequate median barrier;
this design rendered the highway unreasonably dangerous and
created a foreseeable risk of injury.
[Causation] As a result of this negligent design,
[Damages] the plaintiffs were severely injured on [date] when another vehicle [description] crossed the median and struck pl’s vehicle head-on.

6. THE HERNANDEZ’S COMPLAINT p. 408, 2.d. & e.
Strategy
Why did DOT seek review?
Why didn’t pl’s just amend?

7. STATING A CLAIM Haddle v. Garrison, D.Ct. p. 413
Where find “elements” of claim?
What element of the claim was missing?
Why?

8. CHALLENGING A CLAIM The 12(b)(6) motion
Haddle v. Garrison, D.Ct. p. 413
Did D Ct judge make factual determination
Haddle was not fired
Haddle didn’t cooperate w/ grand jury
Haddle wasn’t fired because he cooperated
What did the district court decide?

9. STATING A CLAIM Haddle v. Garrison – D.Ct.
What did the court do (disposition)?
Why?
What sources of law did court rely on?
Why didn’t the plaintiff amend?

10. LEGAL PROCESS Haddle v. Garrison – D.Ct.
What if district court thought
Morast was wrong?
(Persuaded by th Cir. opinion)
Permissible to ignore?

11. LEGAL PROCESS Haddle v. Garrison – 11th Cir.
Why did case seem like an easy one?

12. STATING A CLAIM Haddle v. Garrison – S. Ct.
Why did S.Ct. overrule D.Ct?
Disagree with legal standard D.Ct. applied
when to grant 12(b)(6) motion?

13. RULE CHOICE Haddle v. Garrison – S. Ct.
Good example of “rule choice”
What were the options for S.Ct.?

14. LEGAL PROCESS Haddle v. Garrison – S. Ct.
How did court go about deciding that “property” includes a job?
Why did S. Ct. cite old authorities?

15. STATING A CLAIM Haddle v. Garrison – S. Ct.
What does Haddle tell us about meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1985?
Now what happens?

16. STATING A CLAIM Form and Substance
How are Dept. of Transportation, p. 404 & Haddle different?

17. CONSISTENCY IN PLEADING
Common law
Consistency as the hallmark
Federal Rules
Anything goes

18. TAKEAWAYS Two aspect of stating a claim Identifying elements Form
how phrase the complaint
law? Not expressly req’d under FR’s
fact? Not expressly req’d under FR’s
what level of specificity?
Substance
is there a body of law that authorizes relief?
Elements ?? until appellate court interprets law
Identifying elements
Practice with 42 U.S.C. §1985

19. TAKEAWAYS What’s at stake in Federal Rules pleading? Structurally
define precision and detail required in complaint
Jurisprudentially
limitation on claims
Not every grievance gets to jury
Strategically
Determines scope of discovery
 key to settlement negotiations
Critical if pl lacks access to key info
Cf DOT – what did defendant know & when

20. TAKEAWAYS What’s not at stake in pleading under the Federal Rules?
Winnowing out claims