The Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause by Rochelle Chiappetta: Forms, Pleadings & Practitioner Items

A form is a piece of paper that one can use during litigation. As stated on the uscourts.gov website, forms are useful to show the court what the case is about in an order in which they have requested. The forms themselves will not be perfect, each one will have to be narrowly tailored to the unique needs of the person filing the document.

Pleadings are essentially specific legal forms. These include defenses, answers, etc. Not all forms are pleadings and not all pleadings are forms.  It will be quite possible that not all the forms or pleadings are needed, but it is good to be aware of what to expect. As my legal research professor simply put it: to think about it as though I am requesting the court to do something.

Practitioner items are materials that can be used to aide in winning ones legal battle. This can be access to jury verdicts or information on an expert witness. 

A cause of action is when legal and factual elements have been met required by the specific type of the law the claim is being brought under. Important questions one must ask themselves are:

• Do I have a single or multiple causes of action? 
  • Through Bloomberg Law there is an excellent resource entitled, "Florida's Causes of Action," by James Publishing. This resource walks through different causes of action that may be available and gives all elements required in the legal matter.
• Is this a state cause of action or a federal cause of action? 
  • State Action: Often referred to as a Section 1983 claim. This is when the person bring the claim was deprived of their civil rights by a someone acting "under color of state or local law."
  • Federal Action: Often referred to as a Bivin Action based on the case Bivin v. Six Unknown Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). Essentially one would bring this claim if there is a federal officer acting with federal authority.

There are various different items that can offer assistance during the litigation process. Some questions that one may have may be in regards to:

• Who can I use an expert witness and how much does that cost?
  • A sample transcript has been attached below. 
  • There are multiple free online sources that can help find an expert witness in a particular category. A few of them are:
    • JurisPro.com
    • ALMExperts.com​​​​​​​
• How can I convey my legal issue to the jury in the most favorable way?
  • Jury instructions can be found through sources such as Westlaw and Lexis Nexis as can be seen below. Sample jury instructions can also be found free online but may require more editing. 
  • Florida's Standard Jury Instructions.