pleadings
Formal legal submissions
Pleadings are the formal written documents that parties file in a lawsuit to establish their claims and defenses.
A plaintiff's complaint and a defendant's answer are the basic pleadings.
The term appears in legal contexts: The pleadings were filed before the deadline.
Outside law, pleadings can mean urgent requests or appeals: Despite her pleadings, he refused to reconsider.
Expression of discontent
summons · discovery · interrogatories · demurrer · counterclaim · cross-claim · affidavit · declaration
Humble plea for help
- beseechingUrgently pleading for something
- imploringUrgently requesting with emotion
- appealFormal review request
- entreatyEarnest, urgent request
begging · request · solicitation · intercession · importunity · adjuration · invocation · exhortation
complaint
Expression of discontent
brief · summons · discovery · interrogatories · demurrer · counterclaim · cross-claim · affidavit · declaration · filing
supplication
Humble plea for help
- beseechingUrgently pleading for something
- imploringUrgently requesting with emotion
- appealFormal review request
entreaty · begging · request · solicitation · intercession · importunity · adjuration · invocation · exhortation · remonstrance
- lawlaw, lawyer, lawyers, attorney, attorneys
- civil litigationlawsuits, plaintiffs, defendants, verdicts, judgments
- legal fieldscivil law, criminal law, administrative law, common law, civil procedure
- litigationlawsuit, plaintiff, complaint, lawsuits, motions
- court administrationclerks, court clerks, docket, dockets, docketing
- Court Procedureadjournment, civil procedure, trial procedure, trial process, criminal procedure
pleadingsoral arguments
Spoken advocacy before judges
opening statements · closing arguments · testimony · oral testimony · cross-examination
pleadingsmediation
Intervention to resolve conflict
negotiation · arbitration · settlement negotiations · out-of-court settlement · settlement talks
pleadingsjudgment
Reasoned decision-making capacity
verdict · dismissal · settlement · adjudication · resolution
- pleading the FifthRefusing to testify constitutionally
- special pleadingDemanding unjustified exceptions