Pleading or not a pleading?

Use this page to help determine whether a document is a legal pleading.  If you are a general typist and you determine that the client is dictating a pleading, do not type it.  Please follow the instructions in Scope of Service and open a ticket requesting to reject the job so that the client can submit it on a legal account.  This handout can also be helpful for capitalization purposes, since there are particular rules regarding when pleading titles referred to in other jobs should be capitalized.  (See those rules here: Grammar, Capitalization and Punctuation.)

Remember - if you're not sure, ask!  Open a ticket for assistance. 

What is a pleading?

A pleading is a formal document submitted to or by the court as part of a lawsuit.  Clients are not permitted to submit pleadings on general accounts because pleadings use special formatting which general typists are not required to know or use.  There is also often quite a bit of legal terminology in pleadings.  If a document would have the case caption at the top in its final form, we consider it to be a pleading. 

Use the keyword search function to quickly see if the name of the document appears in one of the charts in this page.

Things to listen for

• Is the client dictating the actual pleading document?  (Example:  This is going to be an objection to the AA's fee petition.  Comes now …)  It's a pleading.
• Is the client dictating a continuation of or an insert to a pleading?  (Example:  This is an insert to a brief.)  It's a pleading.
• If the client asks staff to draft the pleading, and doesn't dictate it him/herself, it's not a pleading.  (Example:  Jenny, please draft an objection to the applicant's attorney's fee petition.  Thanks.)  A general typist can type this. 
• If the client just refers to the pleading in the text of a letter, memo, or report (The applicant's attorney filed a motion to dismiss), it's not a pleading and can be typed by a general typist. 
• Listen to the whole name of the document so you know what term to search for.  When the client says s/he's dictating an objection to a DOR, the document being dictated is an objection, not a DOR. 

Words to watch out for - almost always a pleading

• Comes Now or Now Comes …
• Wherefore
• Respectfully submitted
• This Honorable Court

Types of pleadings 

(Note the red entries which may be pleadings but aren't always.) 

Answer – If the client says "Answer to Motion", "Answers to Interrogatories" or something similar, it's a pleading.  If the client says, "I'm going to answer the AA's letter", it's not a pleading.

Notice – A notice from an insurance company, a school, etc., is not a pleading.  A notice of hearing or notice of deposition (sent by the court or filed by an attorney) is a pleading.

Objection – An objection to a bill or fee notice can be sent either by letter or in the form of a pleading.  If the client says, "This is an objection to the applicant's doctor, Dear Dr. Jones", it's just a letter, not a pleading.  If the client says "This is an objection to the AA's fee petition.  COMES NOW", it's a pleading.  Likewise, an objection to a DOR (Declaration of Readiness to Proceed) is a pleading. 

Special

These are documents which are pleadings, but which are filled out online.  When the client says "I'm dictating a DOR", s/he's not really dictating the pleading, but giving instructions to staff on how to fill out the form online.  General typists may type these instructions. 

• Compromise and Release (sometimes abbreviated C&R)
• Declaration of Readiness to Proceed (DOR)
• Stipulations and Issues (or Stips and Issues)
• Stipulations with Request for Award

Legal documents that aren't pleadings

(Generals can type unless the document contains case citations)

Contain some legal content but okay for generals to type

Deposition summary

Review of medical records