Friday audio--Section A, Section B. Please be sure you have and are looking at the rules and statutes as we go and that you are marking that original text up, rather than transcribing everything.
A few people expressed confusion over how to tell the number of claims in a particular count when it does not specify which defendants it is against (e.g., Count I in Morgan) or which plaintiff(s) are bringing it. The naming of particular parties in a count is necessary when that count is brought by less than all plaintiffs or against less than all defendants. If the count is by all plaintiffs or against all defendants, the lawyer may choose not to specify. But you then know how many are bringing claims or how many they are against by referring back to the caption. So Count I of Morgan does not specify who it is against, therefore it is against all the defendants (two) listed in the caption. We see this in the obvious case in VOA, which lists rights in each count but does not specify parties; since there is one plaintiff and one defendant, that is who is involved.
We continue with Introduction to Pleading; prep everything on the syllabus.
• If not evidence, what is the plaintiff putting into the complaint?
• Review each complaint and note how each is organized to conform to FRCP 8 and 10.
• What is the purpose of a complaint, from the perspective of the judicial system and the perspective o the plaintiff? How does our being an adversary system affect how the plaintiff drafts the complaint? How do each of our complaints attempt to serve these purposes?
• What stops a plaintiff from making stuff up in the complaint?
We then move to Joinder of Parties and Claims. Prep the listed rules except 24 and 42, focusing on FRCP 18, 20, and 21; read Glannon pp. 233-37 and 286-90.
• What is the purpose of unlimited joinder of claims and broad (if not unlimited) joined of defendants? What are the benefits and drawbacks?
• What work is FRCP 18, 20(a)(1), and 20(a)(2) doing in each of our cases?
• What does "same transaction or occurrence" in FRCP 20 mean?
