In the United States, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) govern civil litigation in United States courts. These rules provide that a civil action is commenced with the filing or service of a pleading called a complaint. Civil court rules in states that have incorporated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure use the same term for the same pleading.
Every U.S. state has forms available on the web for most common complaints for lawyers and self-representing litigants. Several United States federal courts publish general guidelines for petitioners and Civil Rights complaint forms. After the complaint has been filed with the court, it has to be properly served to the opposite parties, but petitioners are usually not allowed to serve the complaint personally. The court can also issue a summons, which the plaintiff needs to have served together with the complaint.
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 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 initiate a conference between the parties to plan for the rest of the discovery process. The parties should then 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.
In addition to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, many U.S. district courts have developed their own requirements included in Local Rules for filing with the Court. Local Rules can set a limit on the number of pages, establish deadlines for motions and responses, and specify page layout elements. If a filed motion does not comply with the Local Rules, the judge can choose to strike the motion completely or order the party to re-file it.
According to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 5.2, sensitive text like Social Security numbers, Taxpayer Identification Numbers, birthdays, bank accounts, and children's names should be redacted from filings made with the court and accompanying exhibits. The redacted text can be erased with black-out or white-out, and the page should have an indication that it was redacted. A person making a redacted filing can file an unredacted copy under seal, or the Court can order later that an additional filing be made under seal without redaction.
Before filing the complaint, plaintiffs should 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. This can occur even when the case 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 without an actual trial or judgment, if there is only pre-trial motion practice, attorney fee shifting can still be awarded under FRCP Rule 11 when the opposing party files a Motion for Sanctions and the court issues an order identifying the sanctioned conduct. The losing party has a right to appeal any order for sanctions in the higher court. In state courts, each party is generally responsible only for its own attorney fees, with certain exceptions.
In England and Wales, the term "complaint" was replaced with "statement of claim" in 1883 by the Rules of the Supreme Court. This 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 and either pleads particulars of claim on the claim form itself or as a separate document.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.