drafting complaint and answer

/in /by

Your supervising attorney, Rich N. Moore, comes into your office. He tells you that he has read your internal memorandum of law on the Dorite case, and believes Ms. Dorite has a case against the City of Lyons for her injuries. He then tells you he wants you to draft pleadings for her case and gives the following directions.

  1. He reminds you that this is the State of Wigmore and all pleadings whether a complaint or an answer must follow the Rules of Pleading. He then hands you a condensed version of the rules.
  2. He asks that you draft a complaint for Ms. Dorite’s case using the form complaint he hands to you, but says that you may use any other form complaint you believe appropriate. He tells you that the complaint will be filed in the Circuit Court of the State of Wigmore. He then tells you the complaint should be somewhere between 6-10 paragraphs, have a prayer for relief and it is likely that the court will assign the number 16 L 001 to the case so please use that case number. He says it does not need verification but to use his name as the attorney of record. He then tells you to be sure to demand a jury because the case has good jury appeal and it will help with the negotiations with the City. He goes on to tell you that the form complaint he is giving you pertains to a slip and fall accident on snow and ice that occurred in a parking lot so the form needs to be adapted to Ms. Dorite’s case facts.
  3. He then asks that you draft an Answer so he can understand what the likely issues are. He tells you that he discussed the case with the Lyons’ city attorney. He relates that the City’s attorney, B.G. Brothers, told him that the City has a statement from a witness, Boe G. ( for Gus) Teller, that Ms. Dorite fell in the middle of the street when she was trying to get her wind swept papers back. She also told Moore that the City does not know if there was a pothole in the street in front of Fran Funster’s home at the time of the accident and she emphatically denied that the pothole was on any list to be repaired. Based on this he tells you that the City will not settle the case so we have to file suit. He says the Answer you draft should include these denials by the City.

As he is leaving your office, attorney Moore says the draft Complaint.