civil procedure

A petition that asks an appellate court to grant a writ of certiorari.  This type of petition usually argues that a lower court has incorrectly decided an important question of law, and that the mistake should be fixed to prevent confusion in similar cases.

See jurisdictional amount.

Even if claims are related, when there are multiple parties with several and distinct claims, the claims may not be aggregated to satisfy the requirement for the jurisdictional amount. Two exceptions to this rule exist. First, a single plaintiff is allowed to aggregate the amount if he or she has two or more claims against a single defendant, whether the claims are related or unrelated. A second exception exists where there are two or more plaintiffs who have a common or undivided interest.

Standard of review used at the appellate level to review a trial court's decision, where the court asks whether there exists substantial evidence to support the findings of the court below.

An act passed by Congress in 1934 that gave the Supreme Court the power to make rules of procedure and evidence for federal courts as long as they did not “abridge, enlarge, or modify any substantive right.”

A pleading that sets forth transactions or occurrences or events which happened since the date of the pleading, with the purpose of supplementing it. The court may permit these through motion. Even if the original pleading was defective, it may still be supplemented.

A permissive counterclaim is a claim brought by a defendant against a plaintiff in the situation where the defendant's claim does not arise from the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff's claim. Therefore, if the defendant does not raise the claim in the pending cause of action, it is not waived, and the defendant is free to bring an independent action on the claim.

A compulsory counterclaim is a claim made by a defendant against a plaintiff that arises from the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff's claim. The claim is compulsory in this situation in that it must be raised in the defendant's answer, or it is waived. If defendant fails to assert counterclaim in his answer, he is thereafter precluded from asserting it against plaintiff in the plaintiff's pending action or in an independent action.

A plaintiff must make sufficient assertions of fact in the initial pleading to support a cause of action against a defendant.  A party seeking to raise an issue at trial generally bears the burden of proof as to such issue. 

Also referred to as "pleading burden" or "burden of pleading."

A determination in a judicial proceeding of facts or issues brought before it in accordance with jurisdictional authorities.