You can view sample Complaints For Money Damages or Complaint for Declaratory Judgement and Injunctive Relief

thru our link section - there are links to legal filings there related to for example: wrongful dismissal from a job. Those interested in suing the police or State agencies will find in the folder on Police/State Agency Misconduct examples of filings with comments. The approach is usually to go thru Federal Court and claim Due Process Violations and/or Equal Protection Clause of Constitution violation. If for example the Police has beaten you up, this amounts to very unequal treatment compared to other citizens, the same applies to unjust treatment by state agencies. You may also find some examples to follow on www.perkel.com Be sure to get a book on "How to Prepare and Try a Winning Case"(it's in "Links"). Be assured that the courts are practically required to overlook certain deficiencies in Pro Se filings so don't be overly concerned. You can find thousands of examples to follow for any type of lawsuit including various Motions(a request for a certain action by the Court/Judge) and supporting Briefs and other filings thru www.findlaw.com; www.versuslaw.com or even the general internet. The supporting Briefs often don't have to be filed at the same time with the Motion etc,(your state's Rules of Procedure may allow as much as 10 days for it),but it's a good practice to file them at the same time. The site of American Pro Se Association is EXTREMELY helpful although not well organized and slightly leaning towards NJ State Courts Practice - www.legalhelp.org. You can learn how to research Statutory law and Case law and how to include citations into your filings using the links in Pro Se Support Websites Folder in Links Once your Complaint is completed, you have to serve it on the Opposing Party(the same goes for ANYTHING you file with the Court) Call the Clerk of the Court or look up the Court's Local Rules(on Court's website or library) to find out the requirements for Service of documents on the opposing party(it may range from first class mail, certified mail to State Constable or US Marshal sent by the Court,also yourself or a Process Server found in the Yellow Pages)Once you served your Complaint on the Defendant, your attach(staple) the Certificate of Service(sworn statement that you served the copy on the opposing party - find examples on findlaw.com, court's website or Net) and perhaps some other forms required by the Rules of Procedure(your State or Federal accordingly) or Court's Local Rules. That may be a separate statement that the Statements of Fact you made are true to the "best of your knowledge" and/or Certificate of Non-Concurrence(you swear that you called the opposing party's lawyer or themselves on or about xx/xx/2003 and asked if there is a Concurrence(agreement with your demand/request) and that the adverse party was not in concurrence or did not return your call). That is also attached to your Complaint. Now you are ready to mail it to the Court(attention: Clerk of the Court) together with filing fee. You may also hand deliver it; some Courts allow

e-mailed filings. Once the Complaint has been served on the Defendant they have 30 days to respond(it may be different in your State - see Rules of Procedure, Local Rules of the Court or just call the Court's Clerk).If the Defendant believes the Lawsuit to be without merit(groundless) they may just respond with the Motion to Dismiss(find examples on the findlaw.com etc) It's is a good tactic for a Pro Se Defendant, who incurs no cost, to use every available option including a Motion to Dismiss. If a Motion to Dismiss is addressing only some Counts of the Plaintiff's Complaint then an Answer (check deadlines) on the remaining Counts of the Complaint needs to be filed or else a Default Judgement will be granted on them. If there is more than one Defendant they may file their own separate Motions to Dismiss or Answers. Example; if you are being sued as a result of Tort (Civil Offense; see Torts section in your State's Code)committed by just one spouse chances are the Plaintiffs is suing your spouse too claiming that you acted 'as an Agent' of him/her. In this case you may file an Answer preferably with Counterclaim while your Spouse may file a Motion to Dismiss asserting that you were not acting as his/her agent, he/she never even knew what you were allegedly(be careful not to confirm Plaintiff's allegations) doing or perhaps was objecting and trying to stop you from the conduct causing the chain of events that led to Plaintiff now making these absurd allegations - thus he/she has nothing to do with your alleged Tort and that the lawsuit against him/her needs to be dismissed. The importance of this approach is that in most states Plaintiff who wins a judgement against just one of the spouses cannot touch your marital assets acquired during marriage (marital exemption), only what the Defendant acquired before the marriage or PERHAPS assets acquired during marriage but registered into Defendant's name only(house, car,boat, bank account into one name, guns etc) - you can still argue that these assets are marital; bought at least in part with other spouse's money. If they win a judgement against both of you no marital exemption applies - they can take most anything. If you file Notice of Appeal and Motion for a Stay(of judgement) pending Appeal before the deadline(usually 30 days, check your state's Rules of Procedure or call the court's Clerk) - the Stay will be granted and they cannot touch anything(an appeal can last a year, then you may appeal to still higher court etc). If a Motion to Dismiss has been filed against you, then you should file a Plaintiff's Answer or Memorandum (you may call the clerk to ask proper captioning in your jurisdiction) in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss and a supporting brief:Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Defendant's Motion to Dismiss There are good guidelines to filing an Answer on legalhelp.org. Typically it's a point by point response to numbered items in the Plaintiff's Complaint. Answer /Comes now the Defendant Charlie Brown and avers the following Answer,(optional -New Matter and Counterclaim) against the Plain tiff 1.Admitted 2. Denied. Example when Admitted in Part: 3.Admitted in Part; the Defendant is an adult individual, but it is specifically denied that the Defendant continues to reside at 00 Main St. Boondocks,AK. Example of a Denial with a comment: 4.Denied, strict Proof required ar Trial, by way of further Answer the Defendant avers that the Plaintiff is fully aware of the ..blah, blah or if you don't know what they

are writing about: 4. Denied, Defendant is without knowledge to form a belief as to this averment. When it's a legal issue/point of law they are addressing/citing: 5. Conclusion of Law requiring no further Answer[Conclusions of Law will be addressed at the Trial or during Motion for Summary Judgement consideration and possibly subsequent Appeal(s)] Concluding the Answer: Wherefore, Defendant prays this Honorable Court will dismiss Plaintiff's Lawsuit against Defendant. If you perceive a defect in the way the lawsuit is filed a second section - "New Matter" is added immediately afterwards NEW MATTER And now comes the Defendant Charlie Brown and Avers the following New Matter Against the Plaintiff; Paragraph Numbering continuous with Answer - 14. Defendant asserts that Plaintiff's claim or portion thereof is barred by applicable statute of limitations (look it up in your State's Code or US Code accordingly, the shortest statute of limitations usually applies to libel/slander cases - 1 year) another example of a paragraph 15. Defendant asserts that Plaintiff's Claim is barred for failure to state the cause of action(translation:even if the facts claimed by Plaintiff were true there is no legal grounds for this lawsuit) WHEREFORE, Defendant prays ......same statement as in previous wherefore clause. Last Section - Counterclaim strongly recommended, think of something (if you cannot come up with anything more pertinent; did they say anything negative about you to others - defamation of character; upset you - perhaps intentional infliction of the emotional distress. They need to be put on the defensive) It is required to be pertinent - well, let the Plaintiff prove it's not pertinent. They may file a Motion to Strike to try to knock out counts(have them stricken) in your Counterclaim to which as to most any Motion of theirs you should file a Defendant's Answer or Memorandum (if may call the clerk to ask proper captioning in your jurisdiction) in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Strike and a supporting brief:Defendant's Brief in Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Strike COUNTERCLAIM And now comes the Defendant, Charlie Brown, herein referred to as Counterclaim Plaintiff, and asserts the following counterclaim against the Plaintiff, Plain Jane, herein referred to as Counterclaim Defendant: 16. Counterclaim Plaintiff asserts that the Counterclaim Defendants have not been dealing with the Counterclaim Plaintiff in Good Faith and have presented him with a falsified bill.....blah...blah WHEREFORE, Counterclaim Plaintiff, prays this Honorable Court will grant judgement against Counterclaim Defendant in the amount requested(requested amount should ideally be much higher than the amount the original Plaintiff lawsuit was seeking from you to help them become reasonable sooner)and will dismiss Counterclaim Defendant's lawsuit and award Counterclaim Plaintiff reasonable legal costs/ when you file a counterclaim you may have to Attach the usual Notice required in your State when suing someone: example Notice: You have been sued in Court..... Now the Plaintiff will have to file an Answer to New Matter and Counterclaim with answer numbers corresponding to paragraph numbers in New Matter and Counterclaim 16. Denied, it is specifically denied.... 17. Admitted/

Heres the introduction to Affirmative Defenses that should be used as much as possible by Defendants http://www.jurisdictionary.com/SidePages/Samples/pForms.pdf in many states Affirmative Defenses are a part of New Matter Alternatively Defendants may try Motion to Strike first and then if not granted on at least one or more Counts they will have to file Answer. What follows after the initial exchange Complaint/Answer is a pre-trial Discovery phase when the opposing sides exchange information and prepare evidence. We refer our readers to a Pre-Trial Discovery Folder in Links Section. Please also be advised that a civil lawsuit or a criminal prosecution can be removed to Federal Court rendering State Court powerless unless and until the Federal Court remands the case back to the State Court. Even a traffic ticket or a Family Court matter can be removed to Federal Court creating a serious obstacle and disruption to the opposing lawyer or Police and the Prosecutors, but you have to raise a federal issue such as your inability to secure federally protected Due Process rights in the State Court etc - if you have no valid Federal Issue the case will be remanded and you'll face fine and other sanctions. For more details see messages #1137 and 1979. Lastly Removal is not a Motion which needs to be approved/granted - you just file a Notice of Removal. A few notes on pre-trial conference. Rules of Procedure require the sides to meet and discuss a possible settlement. You can file a Motion to Schedule a Conference or set it up informally thru exchange of letters with the opposing party and then inform the Court. If your adverse party is serious about settling the conversation will boil down to haggling about the amount. If they are not sure they will size you up and try to figure out what evidence/defense you have before making a decision. If they are not interested they will usually be very cocky and try to find out as much as they can in order to send you targeted Request for Production of Documents or Interrogatories - if that's how they behave don't offer them to settle for the amount much less than you sued them for - it's no use and when the conference is over the opposing lawyer may just respond to judge's question on how it went; that you were willing to settle for a fraction of what you sued them for but they think you have no case and are not interested in a settlement. ----------------------------------------------------------Disclaimer: The author of the above text who is the moderator of this group, is not a licensed attorney and had no formal legal training. The above is just the opinion of the author on this topic and should not be construed as legal advice.