Volume II, Chapter §6.4
Litigation Documents |
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Claims for Relief - Causes of Action
Introduction
Committing torts and breaching contracts are the bulk of the causes of litigation. The manual provides just some of the possible torts that could be alleged. As a paralegal, you will most likely never have to identify torts on behalf of a client. These pages are intended to help you become familiar with the function of torts and contracts in litigation, since they will form the basis of most causes of action in court.
Lecture Notes . . .
Causes of Action: The Reason to Sue
First of all, Causes of Action are also called Claims for Relief. This section demonstrates that at least one valid cause of action is required for a law suit to proceed. We also discuss several common causes of action.
It may sound strange, but do not feel any pressure about thoroughly understanding causes of action. The attorney should always indicate what the claims, or causes, will be. Your job is to then create intelligible legal documents given that information. While it will be helpful in many cases to understand the elements of a claim (in order to allege each element within a complaint), a detailed knowledge of a claim is the attorney's realm.
There is a book that might be worth researching, however. It is titled Causes of Action, and is published by Shepard's. It would most likely be found in the form books or treatise section of the law library. This book details the elements that should be alleged within a Cause of Action.
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Paralegal Perspectives . . .
CLAIMS FOR RELIEF
Once an attorney identifies the claims to be alleged in a complaint, the paralegal must make sure that the facts provided in the complaint amount to the claim being made. For instance, if one of the claims the attorney has listed is Negligence per se (negligence while violating a law), the fact must include allegations that constitute negligence, and must include a reference that the conduct of the defendant was in violation of a specific statute. If the general allegations include facts that constitute the claims, it makes it a simple task to then state the claims.
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