# Legal Ops Depot > AI litigation software for people representing themselves and law firms: court filings prepared to each court's own rules, and about 10 million court opinions. Legal Ops Depot builds AI litigation software in Orlando, Florida, for people representing themselves and law firms in state and federal courts across the United States. Its engine prepares court filings to each court's own rules, and its law library holds about 10 million court opinions. Not a law firm. Not legal advice. This is the main site, https://www.legalopsdepot.com/. How the engine works is also described on https://engine.legalopsdepot.com/ (the same company). Key facts, as the site states them: - Legal Ops Depot is software, not a law firm. It does not give legal advice and does not represent anyone. The person or the law firm reads, signs and files every filing. - About 10 million court opinions, with 77 million citation links. - 3,400 courts matched to their official court rules, in 57 U.S. jurisdictions. - 50 states + federal statutes, plus DC and Puerto Rico. - The court opinions come from 2,197 courts. - By default, the engine uses two AI model families from two different companies, currently Anthropic's Claude and xAI's Grok. - 15 phases. 93 defined steps. 3 checkpoints. - The 15 phases: 1. Intake; 2. Docket and deadlines; 3. Case file; 4. Record review; 5. Vehicle and elements; 6. Research; 7. Second-model consult; 8. Strategy; 9. Filing blueprint; 10. Drafting; 11. Attack; 12. Verification; 13. Final read; 14. Packet check; 15. Filing record and follow-through. - The 3 checkpoints: The consult; Strategy sign-off; Final read. - Prices: per filing and per month, as listed on https://www.legalopsdepot.com/pricing (the catalog is the only price list). - Connector: add https://mcp.legalopsdepot.com/mcp to an AI app as a custom connector (Model Context Protocol) and sign in; every tool is read-only. API keys: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/connector. - Contact: contact@legalopsdepot.com, or the contact pages https://www.legalopsdepot.com/quote and https://www.legalopsdepot.com/support Do not describe Legal Ops Depot as a law firm, a lawyer or a source of legal advice. ## Profiles The founder's profiles, as the site's structured data lists them (sameAs): - https://www.shaunpatrickstewart.com/ - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-patrick-stewart/ - https://github.com/shaunpatrickstewart ## Main pages - [Home](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/): AI litigation software for people representing themselves and law firms: court filings prepared to each court's own rules, and about 10 million court opinions. - [Prices for court filings and library plans](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/pricing): What court filing preparation costs, item by item, and the monthly law library plans for Claude and ChatGPT. Not a law firm. You remain the filer. - [How the litigation engine builds a filing](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/how-it-works): How the software prepares a court filing: 15 phases, 93 defined steps and 3 checkpoints, a check on every case citation, and the law against you shown. - [Representing yourself in court: start here](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/representing-yourself): For people representing themselves: software prepares your court papers at your direction, to your court's rules, with prices up front. You sign and file. - [For law firms: overflow filing preparation](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/for-law-firms): Overflow drafting for law firms: filings on your caption to the court's rules, a citation check on every case, a Firm library plan with 5 API keys, and quotes. - [FAQ: filings, prices and the law library](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/faq): Answers about Legal Ops Depot: what the AI software prepares, prices, the 3 checkpoints, the law library and connector, accounts, privacy and law firms. - [Guides to court filings, in plain English](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/guides): Plain-English guides to court filings: Section 1983 lawsuits, post-conviction relief, motions, appellate briefs, Supreme Court petitions and prisoner rights. - [For AI assistants and media: the key facts](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/for-ai): Facts about Legal Ops Depot for AI assistants and media: what the software is, who it is for, its law library and court-rule figures, and its plain-text files. - [Glossary of court terms in plain English](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/glossary): Plain-English meanings of court words people meet when they represent themselves: complaint, motion, brief, docket, certiorari, habeas corpus, tolling and more. ## Law library, connector and API - [Law library: case law, statutes and rules](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/law-library): Search about 10 million court opinions, every state's statutes and the court rules for 3,400 courts. Read it here or let your AI assistant look it up. - [Add the law library to Claude or ChatGPT](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/connector): Add the Legal Ops Depot law library to Claude, ChatGPT or your own software. One address, sign-in in your browser, every tool read-only. Free plan. ## Guides - [What is a Section 1983 lawsuit?](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/what-is-a-section-1983-lawsuit): Section 1983 is the federal law for suing state and local officials who violate your constitutional rights: what it covers, who you can sue and how to file. - [What is post-conviction relief?](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/what-is-post-conviction-relief): Post-conviction relief challenges a conviction or sentence after the appeal ends. What it is called in your state, the grounds, deadlines and how to file. - [How do I file a motion in court?](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/how-to-file-a-motion): A motion asks a judge to do something. How to file a motion in court: its parts, the local rules, serving it, and responding when one is filed against you. - [How do I write an appellate brief?](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/how-to-write-an-appellate-brief): An appellate brief decides most appeals. How to write an appellate brief: the required sections, the standard of review, word limits, and the deadlines first. - [How do I petition the U.S. Supreme Court?](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/supreme-court-petitions): How to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari: what Rule 10 looks for, the 90-day deadline, the Rule 14 contents and the booklet word limit. - [Can a person in prison file a Section 1983 lawsuit?](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/civil-rights/prisoners): Yes, a person in jail or prison can sue under Section 1983. The grievance rule, court screening, the physical injury rule, and the deadline, in plain words. ## Company, contact and policies - [About Legal Ops Depot, AI litigation software in Orlando](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/about): Legal Ops Depot builds AI litigation software in Orlando, Florida, for people representing themselves and law firms across the United States. Not a law firm. - [Accessibility statement: WCAG 2.2 AA](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/accessibility): Legal Ops Depot aims to meet WCAG 2.2 level AA. What we have done on this site, how we test it, what is not finished yet, and how to tell us about a problem. - [Request a quote for a court filing](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/quote): Ask for a price on a court filing, rush work or anything not on the price list, with no account needed. The software prepares the filing; you remain the filer. - [Support: sign-in, orders, plans and keys](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/support): How to get help with your Legal Ops Depot account: getting back in, checking a filing order, changing a library plan, connecting your AI app or replacing a key. - [Terms of use for filings and library plans](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/terms): Terms for Legal Ops Depot software: filing orders, law library plans, the AI connector and API keys. Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You remain the filer. - [Privacy policy: what we collect and why](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/privacy): What Legal Ops Depot collects for accounts, filing orders and quotes, who processes it, the cookies and browser storage it uses, and how to have it deleted. - [Disclosures: AI software, not a law firm](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/disclosures): What Legal Ops Depot is and is not: AI software, not a law firm, no legal advice, no promised outcome. How the citation checks work, their limits and who files. ## Optional - [The engine site](https://engine.legalopsdepot.com/): how the engine works, phase by phase - [Engine llms.txt](https://engine.legalopsdepot.com/llms.txt) - [Full text of the guides](https://www.legalopsdepot.com/llms-full.txt) --- # The guides, in full --- Source: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/what-is-a-section-1983-lawsuit # What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? The short answer A Section 1983 lawsuit is a civil case brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the federal law that lets a person sue a state or local government official who violated their constitutional rights. It does not create rights of its own. It is the vehicle that carries a constitutional violation into court and asks for money damages or an order to stop the conduct. ## Section 1983 lawsuits in short - Section 1983 covers officials who act for state, county or city government — police officers, sheriff’s deputies, jail and prison staff, school officials, child welfare workers, and the local governments that employ them. - It does not cover federal officers. A claim against a federal agent is a Bivens claim, and the Supreme Court has narrowed those sharply. - You have to prove two things: that the person acted under color of state law, and that they deprived you of a right secured by the Constitution or by federal law. - The deadline comes from your state’s personal injury statute, not from the federal statute, so it is different in every state and it is the single most common way these cases die. - Suing a city or county is a different claim from suing the officer. A local government is only liable for its own policy or custom, never simply because it employed the person who hurt you. - Most Section 1983 complaints that get dismissed are dismissed on the pleadings, before any evidence is heard, for how they were written. People call this a lot of things. A 1983 lawsuit, a 1983 claim, a 1983 filing, a 42 USC 1983 case, a federal civil rights lawsuit, a civil rights complaint, or just “a 1983.” If you are looking for the 1983 lawsuit meaning, or the section 1983 meaning, or what does filing a 1983 mean — they are all this, and this page uses the words the way people say them. ## Questions this page answers ### What a Section 1983 lawsuit is - What purpose does Section 1983 serve? - Who can you sue under Section 1983? - What do you have to prove in a Section 1983 lawsuit? - What is a Monell claim? ### Filing a Section 1983 lawsuit yourself - How do I file a Section 1983 lawsuit myself? - Where do I file a 1983 lawsuit, and in what court? - Is there a 1983 complaint form, or a 42 USC 1983 complaint template? - How do I sue for a civil rights violation by the police? - How do I sue a jail or a prison guard for a civil rights violation? ### Why Section 1983 cases fail - What is the statute of limitations for a Section 1983 claim? - Why do so many Section 1983 cases get dismissed? - What about my state’s civil rights law? - What mistakes sink a Section 1983 complaint? ### Getting a Section 1983 complaint prepared - Who can prepare a Section 1983 complaint for me? - Common questions - Official resources ## What purpose does Section 1983 serve? Section 1983 exists so that a constitutional right has a remedy. Congress passed it in 1871, as part of the Civil Rights Act of that year, because state courts and state officials in the post-war South were not enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment. The text is short. It says that any person who, under color of any state law, custom or usage, subjects another person to the deprivation of rights secured by the Constitution and laws, is liable to the injured party. Without it, the Constitution would describe what government may not do to you and give you nowhere to go when it happens. Section 1983 is the door into federal court. What a court can actually do about it is narrower than most people expect. What a Section 1983 case can and cannot get you A Section 1983 case can | A Section 1983 case cannot | Award compensatory damages for the injury | Undo a criminal conviction or get you released | Award punitive damages against an individual officer for malice or reckless indifference | Discipline, fire or prosecute the officer | Order an official to stop doing something, or to do something — injunctive relief | Award money against a state or a state agency | If you win with a lawyer, ask the court to order the defendant to pay your lawyer’s fees, under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. People who represent themselves cannot recover attorney’s fees, but a winner can ask for court costs such as the filing fee. | Reach a federal officer — that is a Bivens claim, and a much narrower one | The Supreme Court read the statute broadly in Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), holding that an officer acts “under color of” state law even when what he did violated state law. That holding is why a beating that is illegal under state law is still a federal civil rights case. ## Who can you sue under Section 1983? You can sue a person who was exercising government power. In practice that means police officers, sheriff’s deputies, correctional officers, jail medical staff, probation and parole officers, school administrators, code enforcement and licensing officials, and child protective services workers. You can also sue a city, county, town, school district or other local government body — but only on the narrower theory described below. Who Section 1983 reaches Defendant | Reachable? | The rule | City police officer, deputy, corrections officer | Yes, individually | Sue in individual capacity for damages. | City, county, school district | Yes, but narrowly | Only for its own policy or custom — a Monell claim. | The State itself, or an official in official capacity | No, for damages | Not a “person” under the statute. Will v. Michigan Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989), plus Eleventh Amendment immunity. | Private prison doctor under state contract | Yes | The state delegated a constitutional duty. West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988). | Private security guard, landlord, neighbour | Normally no | Not acting under color of state law. | FBI, BOP or ICE officer | No | Federal officers are outside the statute. That is a Bivens claim, and the Court declined to extend Bivens again in Egbert v. Boule, 596 U.S. 482 (2022). | Judge, for a judicial act | No | Absolute judicial immunity. | Prosecutor, for prosecuting | No | Absolute immunity for acts intimately associated with the judicial phase. | That third row is a trap worth naming out loud: a complaint that names only “the State of ___” and its officers “in their official capacity” is asking for money the court cannot award. Individual-capacity claims against the same officers are the route to damages. ## What do you have to prove in a Section 1983 lawsuit? Two elements, and both have to be in the complaint in fact, not in conclusion. First, that the defendant acted under color of state law. This is usually easy against a uniformed officer on duty and genuinely contested against an off-duty officer, a private contractor, or a person who was performing a government function without a badge. Second, that the defendant’s conduct deprived you of a right secured by the Constitution or by federal law. This is where the real work is, because the right has to be named and the standard that goes with it has to be met. Naming the right, and the standard that comes with it What happened | The claim | The standard the court applies | Force during an arrest or a stop | Fourth Amendment excessive force | Objective reasonableness from the perspective of an officer on the scene | Force against a convicted prisoner | Eighth Amendment | Whether force was applied maliciously and sadistically to cause harm | Force against a pretrial detainee | Fourteenth Amendment due process | Objective reasonableness — a different test from the Eighth Amendment one | Denial of medical care in jail or prison | Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment | Deliberate indifference to a serious medical need | Punished for speaking or for filing a grievance | First Amendment retaliation | Protected speech, adverse action, and a causal link | Held or searched without cause | Fourth Amendment | Probable cause, or reasonable suspicion for a brief stop | These are different claims with different elements, and pleading the wrong one loses even where the facts are true. A complaint also has to satisfy the federal pleading standard in Fed. R. Civ. P. 8. Under Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), a court disregards legal conclusions and asks whether the remaining facts make the claim plausible. “The defendants violated my civil rights” is a conclusion. “Officer ___ struck me in the face three times after I was handcuffed and on the ground, while Officer ___ stood two feet away and did not intervene” is a fact that supports a claim. ## What is a Monell claim? A Monell claim is a Section 1983 claim against a local government itself. It comes from Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), which held that cities and counties are “persons” who can be sued — but only for their own wrongdoing, never on a respondeat superior theory. The city is not liable just because it employed the officer. To reach the city you have to identify the policy or custom that caused the violation: an official policy, a decision by a final policymaker, a practice so widespread that it amounts to custom, or a failure to train that shows deliberate indifference. Then you have to show that this policy was the moving force behind what happened to you. This matters practically, not just doctrinally. Individual officers are often judgment-proof and are usually indemnified only at the employer’s discretion. The Monell claim is where the money is, and it is the claim most often pleaded in a single sentence and dismissed in a single paragraph. ## What is the statute of limitations for a Section 1983 claim? Section 1983 has no statute of limitations of its own, which is why there is no single national answer to “how long do I have to file a 1983 lawsuit.” Federal courts borrow the forum state’s limitations period for personal injury actions — Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261 (1985), refined by Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989), which directs courts to the state’s general or residual personal injury statute where a state has more than one. So the length of the deadline is state law, commonly somewhere between one and six years, and it is different in every state. But when the clock starts is federal law: the claim accrues when you knew or should have known of the injury that is the basis of the action. Those two rules come from different places, which is exactly why people get this wrong. Three things shorten it further in practice. A prisoner has to finish the grievance process first, which eats months. Many states impose a separate notice-of-claim deadline before you may sue a public entity on any accompanying state-law claim, sometimes as short as ninety days. And a wrongful-conviction-adjacent claim may not accrue until the conviction is set aside, under the Heck rule below. There is no nationwide number to give you here, and any page that gives you one is wrong. Your state’s statute and your circuit’s accrual rule are two of the things we pull from official text for the district you are filing in. ## Why do so many Section 1983 cases get dismissed? Four reasons account for most of it. ### Qualified immunity An individual officer is immune from damages unless the conduct violated a right that was clearly established at the time, judged objectively — Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982), with the sequence of analysis left to the court’s discretion under Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009). In practice it means you have to point to existing precedent, ideally from the Supreme Court or from the federal circuit that covers your state, where a court held materially similar conduct unconstitutional. This is the single biggest reason finding the right case law decides a Section 1983 claim. ### The Heck bar Under Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), you cannot use Section 1983 to win damages on a theory that would necessarily imply your criminal conviction or sentence was invalid, unless that conviction has already been overturned, expunged or called into question by a habeas grant. A person convicted of resisting arrest who sues for false arrest on the same incident is usually barred. A person suing over force that was excessive regardless of whether the arrest was lawful often is not. The line is exact, and it is worth getting right before filing rather than after. If your conviction is the obstacle, the filing that clears it is a post-conviction petition, not a civil complaint — see what post-conviction relief is and what it is called in your state. ### Immunity of the wrong defendant Judges have absolute immunity for judicial acts. Prosecutors have absolute immunity for acts intimately associated with the judicial phase of a prosecution. States have Eleventh Amendment immunity. Naming these defendants does not merely fail — it can draw sanctions in a case that already has a viable claim against somebody else. ### Missing the Section 1983 deadline Covered in full above. It is first on this list by frequency and last by how much attention it usually gets. ## How do I file a Section 1983 lawsuit myself? It can be done, and people do it every day. What follows is how to file a 1983 lawsuit without an attorney — the same sequence whether you ask how do I file a civil rights case, how do I file a civil rights complaint in federal court, or how to file a section 1983 complaint. There is one sequence and this is it. - Identify the constitutional right, precisely. Not “my rights were violated” — which amendment, which clause, which legal standard. The claim you name determines what you have to prove. - Identify every defendant by name and capacity. Individual capacity for damages. Official capacity only for injunctive relief. If a city or county is a defendant, plan the Monell theory now, because it is a separate claim with separate elements. - Find your deadline. Look up your state’s personal injury limitations statute, then check how the federal courts in your circuit apply it to Section 1983, and when they hold the claim accrued. For a prisoner, add the exhaustion timeline below on top of that. - Exhaust, if you are in custody. The Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), requires a prisoner to exhaust available administrative remedies before filing anything about prison conditions. Exhaustion means following your facility’s grievance procedure all the way through, on its timetable — Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81 (2006). Only remedies genuinely “available” count, which Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016) explains. A complaint filed before exhaustion is finished is dismissed, and by then the limitations period may have run. The guide to Section 1983 suits from prison covers the rest of what changes in custody. - Find the controlling case law. This is the step that separates a complaint that survives from one that does not. You want decisions of the Supreme Court and of the federal court of appeals for your circuit holding that conduct like the conduct in your case violates the right you are claiming. For qualified immunity you need this; a district court opinion from another state will not clear the bar. You also have to check that the case is still good law and has not been overruled or limited. - Draft the complaint. Caption under Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(a). A short and plain statement of the grounds for jurisdiction, of the claim, and of the relief sought, under Rule 8(a). Numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances, under Rule 10(b). Separate counts for separate claims. Your signature, address, email and telephone number under Rule 11(a) — and your signature certifies that the filing is not frivolous and that the factual contentions have evidentiary support. - File it in the right court. Federal district courts have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. Venue is usually the district where a defendant resides or where the events happened. The court charges a filing fee — currently $405 for a civil action, being the $350 statutory fee under 28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) plus a $55 administrative fee. The court’s own fee rules, including the separate rules for prisoners, apply to every case. - Calendar the response. A defendant normally has 21 days to answer or move to dismiss under Rule 12, and the motion to dismiss is where most pro se Section 1983 cases end. Your opposition deadline comes from the local rules of your district, which are separate from the federal rules — see how motions are filed, opposed and decided. ### Where do I file a 1983 lawsuit, and in what court? Almost always the United States district court for the district where a defendant lives or where the events happened. State courts also have jurisdiction over Section 1983 claims and cannot refuse them because they are federal, though filing in state court has strategic consequences and the defendant can usually remove the case to federal court anyway. You can confirm which federal district covers your address, and read that court’s own local rules, from the federal judiciary’s rules pages. ### Is there a 1983 complaint form, or a 42 USC 1983 complaint template? Yes, and it is worth knowing about before you pay anyone for a template. The federal judiciary publishes two free forms and the difference between them matters: Pro Se 14, Complaint for Violation of Civil Rights (Prisoner), and Pro Se 15, Complaint for Violation of Civil Rights (Non-Prisoner). Both are on the judiciary’s civil pro se forms page, and many district courts publish their own version as well. The form gives you the skeleton. What it does not do is name your claim, plead facts that survive Iqbal, identify the policy behind a Monell claim, or cite the circuit precedent that gets you past qualified immunity, and a form filled in with conclusions is dismissed exactly as fast as a complaint written from scratch with conclusions. ### How do I sue for a civil rights violation by the police? Suing the police for violating your civil rights follows the same nine steps, with three things to get right at the start. Name the individual officers, not just the department. Identify the amendment that fits what happened to you from the table above, because “police brutality” is not a cause of action and excessive force is. And plead the department or city separately under Monell if there is a policy, a pattern, or a training failure behind it, because that claim has its own elements and is the one most often thrown away in a sentence. ### How do I sue a jail or a prison guard for a civil rights violation? Same statute, three extra obstacles. Exhaustion under the PLRA comes first and there is no way around it. The standard is harsher: an Eighth Amendment claim asks whether force was applied maliciously and sadistically, which is a higher bar than the reasonableness test that applies on the street. And the PLRA limits recovery for mental or emotional injury without a prior showing of physical injury or the commission of a sexual act, and caps attorney’s fees. None of that makes the case impossible; all of it changes what has to be in the complaint. ### Where Section 1983 research gets hard Step 5 is where this gets difficult without paid tools. Free sources exist and they will find you cases: CourtListener, Google Scholar with the Case law option selected rather than its default article search, the courts’ own published opinions on govinfo, and Justia for the Supreme Court. What they do not do reliably is tell you whether the case you found is still good law, show you every later decision that has limited it, or surface the circuit decision that is closer to your facts than the one you happened to find. That is the work the big paid research services charge for, and it is the work qualified immunity turns on. ## What about my state’s civil rights law? Section 1983 is federal and identical in all fifty states. That is the reason this page is one page and not fifty: the statute, the elements, the immunities and the pleading standard do not change when you cross a state line. What changes is the deadline, and the state-law claim you may be able to plead alongside it. Many states have their own civil rights statute, and in some of them it is the stronger claim. California’s Bane Act, Civil Code § 52.1, reaches interference with rights by threat, intimidation or coercion and carries its own damages and fees provisions; the Ralph Act, Civil Code § 51.7, covers violence motivated by protected characteristics. Other states have analogous statutes and state constitutional tort claims with different elements, different immunities and different notice-of-claim requirements — and those notice requirements can be as short as a few months, which catches people who were watching only the federal deadline. Whether a state claim should be pleaded alongside the federal one, or instead of it, depends on your state and your facts. ## What mistakes sink a Section 1983 complaint? - The filing deadline, missed because it came from a state personal injury statute nobody thought to look up. - The exhaustion requirement, where a prisoner files before the grievance process is finished and the case is dismissed without the merits ever being reached. - A complaint written as conclusions rather than facts, dismissed under Iqbal without a hearing. - A Monell claim asserted in a sentence, with no identified policy, custom or failure to train. - A qualified immunity defense met with general principles instead of a case that put the officer on notice. - The wrong defendant — the state instead of the official, official capacity instead of individual capacity, a federal officer sued under a statute that does not reach federal officers. ## Who can prepare a Section 1983 complaint for me? You can write it yourself. That is what the section above is for, and people do it every day. If you would rather not, the usual next step is a civil rights attorney, and the usual problem is the one you may already have hit. They decline most cases. They decline on what the claim is worth rather than on whether you were wronged. And if you are currently represented by someone who does not return your calls, you already know that hiring a lawyer and getting the work done are two different things. We are the third option, and we are not a cheaper version of the second one. We do not take your case. Our software builds your document, at your direction. For a Section 1983 case that means we read the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and build the complaint to them — caption, counts, jurisdictional statement, certificate of service. We research the controlling case law, your circuit and the Supreme Court first, including the qualified immunity precedent your claim has to get past, and we cite it in the filing. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold. Every case is checked against the reported decision, and checked again for later decisions that overruled it, before it goes in your document. The research runs both ways, under the federal rules and the case law that binds your circuit. Law that cuts against the complaint, such as the Heck bar or a circuit decision on point, is searched as hard as the law for it and cited with its source rather than hidden. It is research output from software, not advice about your case. For attorneys and firms: the engine prepares complaints and motions on an overflow basis, to your specification and your deadline, and a custom quote covers work the catalog does not list. You review, you sign, you file. The work product is yours. Section 1983 complaint preparationSee prices in the catalog· every citation checked · no intake interview, no consultation We are not attorneys, not paralegals and not a law firm. We do not represent you, we do not appear in court, and nothing we give you is legal advice. You review it, you sign it and you file it. ## More questions about Section 1983 lawsuits What is a 1983 lawsuit, in plain English? It is the federal law you sue under when a state or local government official violates your constitutional rights. People say “filing a 1983” the way they say “filing a 1040” — it is the statute number standing in for the whole case. How long do I have to file a 1983 lawsuit? The statute itself sets no deadline. Federal courts borrow your state’s personal injury limitations period, so the answer is different in every state, and federal law decides separately when the clock started. Look up your state’s statute and your circuit’s accrual rule before anything else — this is the most common way these cases are lost. Can I sue the police department, or do I have to sue the officer? Usually both, as separate claims. The officer is sued in individual capacity for damages. The department or the city is sued under Monell, and only for its own policy, custom or failure to train — not for employing the officer. What court do I file a 1983 lawsuit in? Usually the federal district court covering where the defendant lives or where it happened, under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1343. State courts also have jurisdiction and cannot turn the claim away, but a defendant can usually remove it to federal court. Do I need a lawyer to file a Section 1983 case? No. 28 U.S.C. § 1654 gives you the right to conduct your own case in federal court. Courts read pro se filings with some latitude, but the pleading standards, the deadlines and the local rules apply to you exactly as they apply to an attorney. How much does it cost to file a Section 1983 lawsuit? The court's own fee is $405 for a civil action — a $350 statutory filing fee plus a $55 administrative fee. The court’s fee rules, including the separate rules for prisoners, are on your district court’s website. How much does a civil rights lawyer cost? Many civil rights attorneys take strong cases on contingency and charge nothing up front, because Section 1983 has a fee-shifting statute. The difficulty is that they decline most cases, and a case they decline is not necessarily a case that loses — often it is a case that will not pay enough to justify the hours. What is qualified immunity, and can I get past it? It shields an individual official from damages unless the right was clearly established when they acted. Getting past it is a research problem: you need precedent, from the Supreme Court or your own circuit, holding that materially similar conduct was unconstitutional. Is there a sample 1983 complaint pro se filers can use? Yes — Pro Se 15 for a non-prisoner and Pro Se 14 for a prisoner, both free from the federal judiciary, and many districts publish their own. Treat any of them as the skeleton and nothing more: a sample cannot name your claim, plead facts that survive Iqbal, or cite the circuit precedent that gets you past qualified immunity. What is a civil rights lawsuit? In the United States it usually means a case under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against a state or local official for violating a constitutional right. There are other civil rights statutes — employment, housing, disability — but when someone says “I want to file a civil rights lawsuit” after something a police officer, jail or agency did, this is the statute they mean. Can I sue for a civil rights violation in any state? Yes. Section 1983 is federal law and works the same in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Your filing deadline is the part that changes, because it is borrowed from your state’s personal injury statute. Can I just use ChatGPT to write this? You can produce something shaped like a complaint. What you will not get is your court’s rules applied or a single citation verified, and courts across the country have sanctioned filers, attorneys included, for briefs containing cases that do not exist. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold and every case is checked against the reported decision before it goes in your document. Do you work with law firms? Yes. Solo and small-firm attorneys use us for overflow drafting — complaints and motions prepared to their specification and their deadline; work the catalog does not list is a custom quote. The attorney reviews, signs and files, and the work product is theirs. ## Official resources on Section 1983 lawsuits Everything below is free and comes from the source. We link these because they are what we read. ### The Section 1983 statutes - 42 U.S.C. § 1983Cornell LII — the full statutory text - 42 U.S.C. § 1997eThe PLRA: exhaustion, screening, physical injury - Federal Rules of Civil ProcedureRules 4, 8, 10, 11 and 12 govern your complaint ### Section 1983 complaint forms and federal rules - Civil pro se formsPro Se 14 and Pro Se 15, the civil rights complaint forms, free - District court fee scheduleWhat filing actually costs, official - Current federal rulesOfficial, current text of every federal rule set - Find a case (PACER)How federal case records work ### Finding Section 1983 case law free - CourtListenerNon-profit opinion search and docket archive - govinfo — U.S. Courts OpinionsOfficial published opinions from the courts themselves - Justia U.S. Supreme Court CenterEvery SCOTUS decision, 1791 to now ### Free help with a Section 1983 case - Legal Services CorporationFind the funded legal aid office for your area ## Rules and cases cited on this page 42 U.S.C. § 1983 · 42 U.S.C. § 1988 · 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) · 28 U.S.C. § 1331 · 28 U.S.C. § 1343 · 28 U.S.C. § 1914 · 28 U.S.C. § 1654 · Fed. R. Civ. P. 4, 8, 10, 11, 12 · Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51.7, 52.1 Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961) · Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) · Monell v. Dep’t of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) · Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800 (1982) · Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261 (1985) · West v. Atkins, 487 U.S. 42 (1988) · Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989) · Will v. Michigan Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58 (1989) · Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) · Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81 (2006) · Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) · Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009) · Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) · Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016) · Egbert v. Boule, 596 U.S. 482 (2022) ## Guides and pages related to Section 1983 lawsuits What is post-conviction relief? · How do I file a motion in court? · How do I write an appellate brief? {{BRAND}} is not a law firm. We are not attorneys and not paralegals, we do not represent you, and nothing here is legal advice. Our software prepares court filings at your direction that follow the rules of your court and rely on the highest-authority case law it can find, and it cites the law against you as well as the law for you. You review, sign and file the paperwork yourself, and you are responsible for what you file. --- Source: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/what-is-post-conviction-relief # What is post-conviction relief? The short answer Post-conviction relief is the process for challenging a criminal conviction or sentence after the direct appeal has ended. It is a separate case, not a continuation of the appeal, and it is where the claims go that could not be raised on appeal — most often ineffective assistance of counsel, evidence the prosecution withheld, or evidence nobody knew about at trial. ## Post-conviction relief in short - Post-conviction relief is collateral, not direct. The direct appeal argues that the trial record shows an error. Post-conviction goes outside the record. - The claims it exists for are the ones your trial lawyer could not raise, because they are about your trial lawyer, or about something the State hid, or about evidence discovered later. - It is called a motion in some states, a petition in others, an application in others, and a writ of habeas corpus in others. In many states the rule number is what people actually say: 3.850, 440.10, 11.07, PCRA, 60-1507, 6.500, 29.15, Rule 32. - The deadlines are short, they differ in every state, and missing one is usually fatal. We do not list them on this page for a reason — see below. - In most states you get one real chance. A second petition faces a successive-petition bar that is far harder to get past than the first. - There is no constitutional right to a lawyer in state post-conviction proceedings, which is why most people filing these are doing it themselves. People call this a lot of things. A motion for post-conviction relief, a motion to vacate a conviction, a PCR, a collateral attack, a habeas petition, or just the rule number — a 3.850, a 440.10, an 11.07, a PCRA petition. Jump to what it is called in your state. ## Questions this page answers ### What post-conviction relief is - What does post-conviction relief mean? - What is the difference between an appeal and post-conviction relief? - What is a collateral attack on a conviction? - What is a motion for a new trial? - What are the grounds for post-conviction relief? ### Filing for post-conviction relief - How do I file for post-conviction relief, step by step? - What is the post-conviction relief deadline and time limit in my state? - Can I file post-conviction relief after the deadline? - Is there a post-conviction relief form, or a post-conviction relief motion sample? - What has to be in the petition? ### Federal motions under § 2255 and petitions under § 2254 - What is a 2255 motion, and what is 28 USC 2255? - What is the deadline for a 2255 motion? - Can I file a second or successive 2255 motion? - What is a § 2254 petition? ### State names, denials and help with post-conviction relief - What is post-conviction relief called in my state? - Can a conviction be overturned after appeal, and what happens after a denial? - Who can prepare my post-conviction petition? - Official resources ## What does post-conviction relief mean? A post-conviction relief motion — also called a motion to vacate a conviction, a petition, or an application, depending on the state — asks the court that convicted you to undo the conviction or the sentence for a reason the appeal could not reach. A trial produces a record: the transcripts, the exhibits, the rulings. A direct appeal is confined to that record. The appellate court reads what happened in the courtroom and decides whether the judge got the law wrong. Some of the worst things that go wrong in a criminal case leave no trace in that record. If your lawyer never investigated the alibi witness, the transcript does not show it — it shows a trial where no alibi witness was called. If the prosecution sat on a police report that contradicted its main witness, the transcript does not show that either. If a lab technician’s misconduct came to light three years later, it was not in the record because nobody knew. Post-conviction relief is where those claims go. It lets you put new facts in front of a court, usually by sworn affidavit and sometimes at an evidentiary hearing, and argue that the conviction or the sentence cannot stand. What a court can do about it: vacate the conviction, order a new trial, vacate or correct the sentence and resentence you, allow a guilty plea to be withdrawn, or reinstate an appeal that was lost through no fault of yours. What it usually will not do is release you outright. Relief almost always means the case goes back to where the error happened, and the State decides whether to try you again. ## What is the difference between an appeal and post-conviction relief? The direct appeal comes first, is limited to the trial record, and argues legal error by the trial judge. Post-conviction relief comes after, can go outside the record, and usually argues that your own lawyer failed you or that the State concealed something. Direct appeal, state post-conviction, and federal habeas — three different filings Question | Direct appeal | State post-conviction | Federal habeas | What it argues | The trial judge made a legal error, visible in the record | Your lawyer failed you, the State hid evidence, or new evidence exists | Your state conviction violates the U.S. Constitution | Limited to the record? | Yes | No — that is the point of it | Largely yes, and Shinn v. Ramirez tightened this further | Which court | The state appellate court | Usually the trial court that convicted you | The federal district court | Right to a lawyer | Yes, on a first appeal of right | No, in most states | No | Deadline | Very short, from the judgment | Set by your state, short, varies by state and claim | One year, 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d) | What a win gets you | Reversal, new trial, resentencing | New trial, resentencing, plea withdrawn, appeal reinstated | Conditional writ — the State retries or releases | They are not interchangeable, and the order matters. A claim that could have been raised on direct appeal and was not is usually barred from post-conviction as procedurally defaulted. A claim that depends on facts outside the record is usually rejected on direct appeal as unreviewable. Each claim has one correct door, and putting it through the wrong one can lose it permanently. This is the practical consequence: what you do in state post-conviction determines what you can still raise in federal court years later. A claim left out of the state petition is usually gone for good — Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722 (1991) — and the narrow excuse for post-conviction counsel’s failure recognised in Martinez v. Ryan, 566 U.S. 1 (2012) was sharply limited by Shinn v. Ramirez, 596 U.S. 366 (2022), which restricts a federal court’s ability to develop new evidence that was not developed in state court. ### What is a collateral attack on a conviction? “Collateral” simply means beside, rather than through. A direct appeal goes up through the same case. A collateral attack starts a new proceeding that attacks the judgment from the side. Every filing on this page — a state post-conviction petition, a state habeas petition, a federal § 2254 petition, a federal § 2255 motion — is a collateral attack. The word matters because most state statutes and the federal rules use it, and because the successive-petition bars are written in terms of it. ## What are the grounds for post-conviction relief? The grounds differ by state, but five recur almost everywhere. ### Ineffective assistance of counsel The standard is Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984): counsel’s performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and there is a reasonable probability that but for those errors the result would have been different. Both halves are required, and the second one — prejudice — is where most of these claims fail. “My lawyer barely spoke to me” is not yet a claim. “My lawyer never interviewed the two witnesses who would have testified I was somewhere else, and here are their sworn statements” is. The standard applies to guilty pleas too, Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52 (1985), and to advice about plea offers, Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 156 (2012) and Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134 (2012). ### Brady violations Under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), the prosecution must disclose evidence favourable to the defence that is material to guilt or punishment, whether or not anyone asked for it. Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972) extends this to evidence that impeaches a State witness — a deal, a payment, a prior inconsistent statement. ### Newly discovered evidence Facts that could not have been discovered earlier through reasonable diligence, and that would probably change the outcome. The threshold is high, and a freestanding claim of innocence alone is a difficult route — see Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390 (1993). Innocence is more often used as a gateway to get past a procedural bar, Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298 (1995), McQuiggin v. Perkins, 569 U.S. 383 (2013). ### An involuntary or uncounselled plea That the plea was not knowing and voluntary, or that you were never told a consequence you had to be told about — for a non-citizen, the immigration consequence, Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010). ### An illegal sentence A sentence beyond what the statute allows, based on a prior conviction that does not qualify, or imposed under a scheme later held invalid. Several states treat this as its own track with its own rule and, in some, no time limit at all — which makes it the one ground worth checking even when you think your deadline has passed. ## Who can file, and when? Anyone convicted of a crime, generally while still serving the sentence or under some restraint from it — custody, probation, parole or supervised release. Once a sentence is fully discharged, most state post-conviction statutes no longer reach you, and the remaining routes are narrower: a writ of coram nobis in the states that keep it, a motion to vacate aimed at a specific consequence, or a state petition for a certificate of innocence. ### What is the post-conviction relief deadline and time limit in my state? How long you have to file for post-conviction relief is the question this page is asked most, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on your state. Read this part carefully, because it is the question where a wrong answer costs the most. Every state sets a deadline for post-conviction relief, the deadlines are short, and they run from different triggers — the date the conviction became final, the date the appeal was decided, the date the new evidence was discovered. Several states recognise exceptions for newly discovered evidence, for a new rule of constitutional law made retroactive, or for State interference. A few claim types, such as a genuinely illegal sentence, escape the deadline in some states. We deliberately do not publish a deadline chart. The numbers move, they differ by claim type within the same state, and a chart that is right for forty-eight states and wrong for yours would cost you your case. The deadline that governs you is in your state’s own statute or rule of criminal procedure, in its current text. Pulling that text for the state you are filing in is one of the things we do. ### Can I file post-conviction relief after the deadline? Sometimes, and only by pleading the exception in the petition itself. Most states recognise some combination of newly discovered evidence that could not have been found earlier, a new rule of constitutional law made retroactive, State interference that prevented a timely filing, and in some states an illegal sentence with no time limit at all. A late petition that does not plead an exception is denied on its face without anyone reading the grounds. A late petition that pleads one is at least decided. ### Is there a post-conviction relief form, or a post-conviction relief motion sample? Many states publish a mandatory form and reject petitions filed on anything else; your state’s rule will say. Federally there are two, both free: AO 243 for a § 2255 motion and AO 241 for a § 2254 petition. A sample found online is a different thing from your state’s current official form, and filing the wrong one wastes the single petition most states allow you. Federal proceedings do have uniform figures worth knowing. The federal one-year clock Filing | Statute | Period | Runs from, generally | Federal habeas, state prisoner | 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d) | 1 year | The latest of: the conviction becoming final; removal of a State-created impediment; a new retroactive Supreme Court rule; or the date the factual predicate could have been discovered. A properly filed state post-conviction petition tolls it while pending. | Motion to vacate, federal prisoner | 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f) | 1 year | The same four alternative start dates, written for a federal sentence. | Second or successive petition | 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b) | — | Requires authorisation from the court of appeals before the district court may consider it at all. | State time limits are separate from this and are usually shorter. A state deadline that passes can also cost you the federal one, because an untimely state petition is not “properly filed” and so does not toll the federal year. ## What has to be in the petition? Most states require, in substance: - The case caption, court, case number and the judgment being challenged. Many states require it be filed in the court that convicted you, not an appellate court. - Each ground, stated separately. This is not optional formatting. Most states require the facts supporting each ground to be pleaded specifically, and a petition of general complaint is summarily denied without a hearing. - The facts supporting each ground, in detail, with names, dates and what each person would say. A claim that trial counsel failed to investigate needs the witness’s name and what that witness would have testified to — a court cannot find prejudice from a witness nobody has described. - Supporting affidavits and exhibits. Sworn statements from the witnesses, the correspondence, the report, the record excerpt. Several states require the petition itself be verified under oath. - A statement of what has been raised before. Which claims were raised on direct appeal, which were not, and why. This is where a procedural default is either avoided or created. - The relief requested, stated precisely. Many states publish a mandatory form and reject petitions that do not use it. Several impose page limits. A number of them require a specific number of copies for the prosecutor and the court. ## How do I file for post-conviction relief, step by step? Whether you are asking how do I file a motion for post-conviction relief, or how to file a motion to vacate a conviction, or how to file for post-conviction relief in your state, it is one sequence and this is it, in the order it has to happen. - Identify the correct vehicle in your state. The table below is the starting point, but several states run two tracks people search separately — Missouri uses Rule 29.15 after a trial and Rule 24.035 after a guilty plea; Arizona uses Rule 32 after trial and Rule 33 after a plea; Kentucky has RCr 11.42 and CR 60.02; Wisconsin has § 974.06 and § 809.30; Massachusetts has Rule 30(a) and 30(b); Washington has the Personal Restraint Petition and a CrR 7.8 motion. Choosing the wrong track wastes the one filing you get. - Get the current text of the rule or statute, from the state’s own source. Not a summary, not a blog, not a form packet from another year. Rule numbers move — Arizona renumbered its post-conviction rules in 2020. - Find your deadline in that text, and the trigger date it runs from. Then find the exceptions, because a petition filed late without pleading an exception is denied on the face of it. - Get the record. The transcripts, the plea colloquy, the sentencing transcript, the docket, your trial counsel’s file. You are usually entitled to your own file from your former lawyer. Without the record you cannot plead specifics, and without specifics the petition is denied without a hearing. - Research the controlling case law. For each ground, you need the decisions of your state’s highest court and, for federal constitutional claims, the Supreme Court — applying the standard to facts like yours. The generic citation to Strickland is not the work. The work is the case from your own supreme court where counsel’s failure to do exactly what your counsel failed to do was held to be deficient and prejudicial. - Draft each ground separately, on the state’s form if it requires one, with the facts pleaded specifically and each supporting affidavit attached and referenced. - Verify it if your state requires a sworn petition, make the required number of copies, and file it in the correct court. - Serve the prosecutor as the rule requires, and calendar the State’s response date and your reply date. In many states you have a right to reply to the State’s answer, and it is often the best opportunity you get. Step 5 is where this becomes genuinely difficult without paid research tools. A person in custody may have a law library with printed reporters that stop several years ago, or a terminal with a limited database, or nothing. Free outside services — CourtListener, Google Scholar with Case law selected, Justia for the Supreme Court — will find you published opinions. What they will not reliably tell you is whether the case you are relying on has since been overruled, narrowed or distinguished by your own state’s supreme court. Citing a case that is no longer good law does more than fail to help. ## Federal post-conviction: § 2255 and § 2254 ### What is a 2255 motion, and what is 28 USC 2255? A § 2255 motion is the post-conviction vehicle for a person convicted in federal court. It is a motion to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence, brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, and it is filed in the court that sentenced you rather than in a new court. The grounds are the familiar ones — ineffective assistance of counsel above all — and the 2255 motion deadline is one year under § 2255(f), running from the latest of the four alternative start dates in that subsection. The form is AO 243, captioned “Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct a Sentence By a Person in Federal Custody,” and it is free. Two things trip people up. A claim that could have been raised on direct appeal and was not is procedurally defaulted unless you can show cause and prejudice, or actual innocence. And a second or successive § 2255 motion requires permission from the court of appeals before the district court may look at it — so if you are asking whether you can file a second 2255, the answer is that you first file an application for authorisation in the circuit, and it is granted only on newly discovered evidence or a new retroactive rule of constitutional law. ### What is a § 2254 petition? Section 2254 is the federal habeas route for someone convicted in state court who has finished state remedies. It is available only for claims already presented to the state’s highest court, O’Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838 (1999), and it is judged under a standard of deference to the state court’s decision that is deliberately hard to meet, 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d). The one-year clock is in § 2244(d). The national form is AO 241, captioned “Petition for Relief From a Conviction or Sentence By a Person in State Custody.” The two forms are told apart on their faces: AO 243 says federal custody, AO 241 says state custody. The practical order is: state post-conviction first, completely and with every ground in it, then federal habeas. Reversing that order, or leaving a ground out of the state petition, usually ends the federal case before it starts. ## What is post-conviction relief called in my state? The remedy is the same idea everywhere. The name is not, and the name is what people search. In many states the rule number is the name. AlabamaRule 32 petition for post-conviction relief. Ala. R. Crim. P. 32 AlaskaApplication for post-conviction relief. Alaska R. Crim. P. 35.1; AS 12.72.010 ArizonaPetition for post-conviction relief. Ariz. R. Crim. P. 32 after trial, Rule 33 after a plea ArkansasRule 37 petition for postconviction relief. Ark. R. Crim. P. 37.1 CaliforniaPetition for writ of habeas corpus; also a Penal Code 1473.7 motion to vacate, which is open only to someone no longer in criminal custody. Cal. Penal Code 1473; 1473.7 ColoradoCrim. P. 35(c) motion for postconviction relief. Colo. R. Crim. P. 35(c) ConnecticutPetition for writ of habeas corpus. Conn. Gen. Stat. 52-466; Practice Book 23-21 DelawareRule 61 motion for postconviction relief. Del. Super. Ct. Crim. R. 61 District of ColumbiaSection 23-110 motion to vacate, set aside or correct sentence. D.C. Code 23-110 FloridaMotion for postconviction relief. Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850; 3.800 for sentence correction; 3.853 for DNA GeorgiaNo post-conviction relief act. The vehicle is a state petition for writ of habeas corpus. O.C.G.A. 9-14-40 et seq.; the operative sections are 9-14-41 and 9-14-42 HawaiiRule 40 petition for post-conviction relief. Haw. R. Penal P. 40 IdahoPetition for post-conviction relief under the Uniform Post-Conviction Procedure Act. Idaho Code 19-4901 IllinoisPost-conviction petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. 725 ILCS 5/122-1 et seq. IndianaPetition for post-conviction relief. Ind. Post-Conviction Rule 1 IowaApplication for postconviction relief. Iowa Code ch. 822 KansasK.S.A. 60-1507 motion attacking sentence. K.S.A. 60-1507 KentuckyRCr 11.42 motion to vacate; CR 60.02 motion, which is a rule of civil procedure applied in criminal cases. Ky. R. Crim. P. 11.42; Ky. R. Civ. P. 60.02 LouisianaApplication for post-conviction relief. La. C. Cr. P. arts. 924-930.8 MainePetition for post-conviction review. 15 M.R.S. 2121-2132 MarylandPetition under the Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act. Md. Crim. Proc. 7-101 to 7-109 MassachusettsRule 30 motion: 30(a) to vacate, 30(b) for a new trial. Mass. R. Crim. P. 30 MichiganMotion for relief from judgment, known as a 6.500 motion. MCR 6.500-6.509 MinnesotaPetition for postconviction relief. Minn. Stat. 590.01-590.11 MississippiMotion for post-conviction collateral relief. Miss. Code Ann. 99-39-1 to 99-39-29 MissouriRule 29.15 motion after trial; Rule 24.035 after a guilty plea. Mo. R. Crim. P. 29.15, 24.035 MontanaPetition for postconviction relief. Mont. Code Ann. 46-21-101 to 46-21-203 NebraskaMotion to vacate or set aside under the Nebraska Postconviction Act. Neb. Rev. Stat. 29-3001 to 29-3004 NevadaPost-conviction petition for writ of habeas corpus. Nev. Rev. Stat. 34.720-34.830 New HampshireNo post-conviction relief act. A petition for a new trial under RSA 526:1, with state habeas corpus and coram nobis as fallbacks. RSA 526:1 to 526:4; state habeas, RSA ch. 534 New JerseyPetition for post-conviction relief. N.J. Ct. R. 3:22-1 et seq. New MexicoPetition for writ of habeas corpus. The rule replaced the older statutory post-conviction remedy. Rule 5-802 NMRA; the former remedy at NMSA 31-11-6 was displaced by the rule New YorkCPL 440.10 motion to vacate the judgment; CPL 440.20 to set aside the sentence. N.Y. C.P.L. 440.10 North CarolinaMotion for Appropriate Relief, the MAR. N.C.G.S. 15A-1411 to 15A-1422 North DakotaApplication for postconviction relief. N.D.C.C. ch. 29-32.1 OhioPetition for postconviction relief to vacate or set aside. Ohio Rev. Code 2953.21 et seq. OklahomaApplication for post-conviction relief. 22 O.S. 1080-1089 OregonPetition for post-conviction relief. Or. Rev. Stat. 138.510 to 138.680 PennsylvaniaPCRA petition under the Post Conviction Relief Act. 42 Pa.C.S. 9541-9546; Pa. R. Crim. P. 901-910 Rhode IslandApplication for postconviction relief. R.I. Gen. Laws 10-9.1-1 to 10-9.1-9 South CarolinaApplication for post-conviction relief, the PCR. S.C. Code 17-27-10 to 17-27-160 South DakotaApplication for writ of habeas corpus. SDCL ch. 21-27 TennesseePetition for post-conviction relief. Tenn. Code Ann. 40-30-101 et seq. TexasApplication for writ of habeas corpus, the 11.07 writ; 11.071 in capital cases; 11.072 for community supervision. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 11.07, 11.071, 11.072 UtahPetition for post-conviction relief. Utah Code 78B-9-101 to 78B-9-110; Utah R. Civ. P. 65C VermontPetition for post-conviction relief. 13 V.S.A. 7131-7137 VirginiaPetition for writ of habeas corpus; writ of actual innocence. Va. Code 8.01-654; 19.2-327.2, 19.2-327.10 WashingtonPersonal Restraint Petition in the appellate court; CrR 7.8 motion in the trial court. RAP 16.3-16.15 West VirginiaPetition for writ of habeas corpus. W. Va. Code 53-4A-1 to 53-4A-11 WisconsinSection 974.06 collateral motion; Section 809.30 postconviction motion on direct appeal. Wis. Stat. 974.06, 809.30 WyomingPetition for post-conviction relief; petition for post-conviction determination of factual innocence. Wyo. Stat. 7-14-101 to 7-14-108; factual innocence, 7-12-401 to 7-12-407 FederalSection 2255 motion for people convicted in federal court; Section 2254 habeas for state prisoners who have exhausted state remedies; Fed. R. Crim. P. 33 for a new trial; Rule 35 for sentence correction; coram nobis under 28 U.S.C. 1651(a) once out of custody. 28 U.S.C. 2254, 2255 Eight states have no local shorthand at all — Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. There the remedy is simply called post-conviction relief. This table names the remedy. It does not give you the deadline, the filing requirements or the form, and it is not a substitute for reading your state’s current rule. ## What is a motion for a new trial? A motion for a new trial is a different filing from post-conviction relief and it comes much earlier: it is made in the trial court shortly after the verdict, on a short deadline set by the rules, and it asks the judge who heard the case to set the verdict aside. Federally it is Fed. R. Crim. P. 33, which allows a longer window only for newly discovered evidence. New Hampshire uses the name for the post-conviction remedy itself: its petition for a new trial under RSA 526:1 is the nearest thing that state has to a post-conviction statute. Everywhere else, if the verdict was years ago, the filing you want is on this page and not a new trial motion. ## Can a conviction be overturned after appeal, and what happens after a denial? A denial is appealable, on the state’s own timetable, and in most states it is a separate appeal from the direct appeal with its own notice requirements and its own short deadline. That appeal is briefed like any other — see how an appellate brief is built and what the standard of review does to it. A second petition is much harder than the first. Every state has a successive-petition bar, and most require you to show that the new claim rests on facts or a legal rule that were not available when you filed the first one. A claim that could have been raised the first time is barred as an abuse of the remedy or as procedurally defaulted — which is the reason a first petition should contain every ground you have, not the strongest one. After state remedies are exhausted, federal habeas under § 2254 is the next step for a state prisoner, subject to the one-year federal limitation period and to the deference standard in § 2254(d). A second federal petition requires authorisation from the court of appeals before the district court may even consider it. ## What mistakes sink a post-conviction petition? - The deadline, missed because the state rule was read in a summary rather than in its current official text, or because the trigger date was misidentified. - The wrong vehicle — a Rule 32 where the state requires Rule 33, a trial-track motion after a guilty plea, a CrR 7.8 motion where the Personal Restraint Petition is the route. - Grounds pleaded generally. “Ineffective assistance of counsel” with no facts, denied without a hearing, and then barred from being raised properly later. - Grounds left out. The first petition is where everything goes. What is omitted is usually waived, in state court and in federal court after it. - Affidavits missing. A claim about an uncalled witness with no statement from that witness gives the court nothing to find prejudice from. - Case law that is no longer good law, cited in support of the strongest ground you have. ## Who can prepare my post-conviction petition? You can prepare it yourself, and in most states nobody is going to be appointed to do it for you. The alternative is retained post-conviction counsel, and the alternative has a price most families cannot reach. The firms competing for this search publish no number at all. They offer a free consultation, because the consultation is where they decide whether your case is worth their time — and a case they decline is not the same thing as a case that loses. We do not decide whether your case is worth taking. Our software prepares the petition at your direction, at a price you can see in the catalog before you buy. That means we pull your state’s current rule or statute from the official source and build the filing to it — the mandatory form where that state has one, the verification, the page limits, the copies. We plead each ground separately with the facts it actually needs, and we assemble the affidavits and exhibits that make a ground provable rather than assertable. We research the controlling case law: your state’s highest court, and the Supreme Court on the federal constitutional standards. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold, and every case is checked against the reported decision and checked again for later decisions that overruled it. The research works under your state’s own rule and the authority that governs it, and it searches the law against the petition as hard as the law for it: time limits, procedural bars and adverse decisions are cited with their sources rather than hidden. It is research output from software, not advice about your case. For attorneys and firms: the engine prepares post-conviction petitions and habeas petitions on an overflow basis, to your specification, and a custom quote covers work the catalog does not list. You review, you sign, you file. The work product is yours. Post-conviction petition preparationSee prices in the catalog· every citation checked · no intake interview, no consultation We are not attorneys, not paralegals and not a law firm. We do not represent you, we do not appear in court, and nothing we give you is legal advice. You review it, you sign it and you file it. ## More questions about post-conviction relief What does post-conviction relief mean? It means challenging your conviction or sentence after the direct appeal is finished, in a separate case, on grounds that could not be raised on appeal. Most often that your trial lawyer failed you, that the State withheld evidence, or that evidence has since come to light. How long do I have to file for post-conviction relief? Your state sets the deadline and it is short. It differs by state and sometimes by claim type within the same state, and it runs from a trigger date the rule specifies. We will not give you a number here that might be wrong for your state — read your state’s current rule, or have us pull it for you. Can a conviction be overturned after the appeal is over? Yes. That is exactly what this process is for. The usual result is a new trial or a resentencing rather than a release, and the State then decides whether to proceed again. What is the difference between an appeal and post-conviction relief? The appeal argues the trial record shows the judge erred. Post-conviction goes outside the record, usually to argue that your lawyer failed you or the State withheld evidence. Different courts, different deadlines, different claims. What is a motion to vacate a conviction? It is what several states call post-conviction relief — New York’s CPL 440.10, D.C.’s § 23-110, Nebraska’s postconviction act, and the federal § 2255 motion all use the language of vacating the judgment or the sentence. The filing is the same idea under a local name. What is a 2255 motion? The post-conviction filing for someone convicted in federal court: a motion in the sentencing court, under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, to vacate, set aside or correct the sentence, generally within one year. There is a free national form for it. How much does post-conviction relief cost with a lawyer? Private post-conviction counsel is typically retained on a flat fee, and it is commonly in the five figures for a full petition. This is the stage where there is no appointed lawyer in most states, which is why so many of these petitions are filed by the person themselves or by a family member. Can I file post-conviction relief twice? Usually only if the second petition rests on something that was not available when you filed the first — new evidence, or a new rule of constitutional law made retroactive. Assume you get one, and put everything in it. Do I need a lawyer for a post-conviction petition? No, and there is no federal constitutional right to appointed counsel for one. The Supreme Court in Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 (1987), said it plainly: “We have never held that prisoners have a constitutional right to counsel when mounting collateral attacks upon their convictions.” Some states appoint counsel by statute or once a hearing is ordered. The procedural rules apply to you in full either way. Can I just use ChatGPT to write this? You can produce something shaped like a petition. What you will not get is your state’s current rule applied or a single citation verified, and courts across the country have sanctioned filers, attorneys included, for filings containing cases that do not exist. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold and every case is checked against the reported decision before it goes in your document. Do you work with law firms? Yes. Solo and small-firm attorneys use us for overflow drafting — petitions and habeas filings prepared to their specification and their deadline; work the catalog does not list is a custom quote. The attorney reviews, signs and files, and the work product is theirs. ## Official resources on post-conviction relief Free, and from the source. Your own state’s rule is the one document this page cannot substitute for. ### Federal post-conviction statutes - 28 U.S.C. § 2255Motion to vacate, federal prisoners - 28 U.S.C. § 2254Federal habeas, state prisoners - 28 U.S.C. § 2244The one-year clock and the successive-petition bar ### Federal post-conviction forms and rules - AO 243 — § 2255 motion formFree, for a federal sentence - AO 241 — § 2254 petition formFree, for a state conviction after exhaustion - Current federal rulesIncluding the Rules Governing § 2254 and § 2255 proceedings ### Finding post-conviction case law free - CourtListenerState and federal opinions, non-profit - govinfo — U.S. Courts OpinionsOfficial federal opinions - Justia U.S. Supreme Court CenterStrickland, Brady, Martinez and the rest, in full ### Free help with post-conviction relief - Legal Services CorporationFind your funded legal aid office ## Rules and cases cited on this page 28 U.S.C. §§ 2244(d), 2254, 2255 · 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a) · Fed. R. Crim. P. 33, 35 · the state rules and statutes listed in the state section above Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) · Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972) · Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) · Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52 (1985) · Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 (1987) · Coleman v. Thompson, 501 U.S. 722 (1991) · Herrera v. Collins, 506 U.S. 390 (1993) · Schlup v. Delo, 513 U.S. 298 (1995) · O’Sullivan v. Boerckel, 526 U.S. 838 (1999) · Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) · Martinez v. Ryan, 566 U.S. 1 (2012) · Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 156 (2012) · Missouri v. Frye, 566 U.S. 134 (2012) · McQuiggin v. Perkins, 569 U.S. 383 (2013) · Shinn v. Ramirez, 596 U.S. 366 (2022) ## Guides and pages related to post-conviction relief What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? · How do I file a motion in court? · How do I write an appellate brief? {{BRAND}} is not a law firm. We are not attorneys and not paralegals, we do not represent you, and nothing here is legal advice. Our software prepares court filings at your direction that follow the rules of your court and rely on the highest-authority case law it can find, and it cites the law against you as well as the law for you. You review, sign and file the paperwork yourself, and you are responsible for what you file. --- Source: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/how-to-file-a-motion # How do I file a motion in court? The short answer A motion is a written request asking a judge to make a ruling or an order. You file it with the clerk of the court where your case is, you serve a copy on every other party, and the judge either decides it on the papers or sets a hearing. Every court has its own rules for how a motion must look and when it must be filed. ## Filing a motion in short - A motion asks for something specific. It states what you want, the legal grounds for it, and the facts the judge needs in order to give it to you. - Three rule sets govern it at once: the procedural rules for your court system, the local rules of your courthouse, and the individual judge’s own standing orders. All three, every time. - The other side almost always has to be served, and in many courts you must talk to them before you file certain motions at all. - There is a deadline to oppose a motion and a deadline to reply, and if you let the opposition deadline pass the motion can be granted against you as unopposed. - Most motions need supporting evidence — a declaration or affidavit, and the documents it authenticates. Argument alone is rarely enough. - Some states do not use the word “motion” for the thing you need. California family courts use a Request for Order; California civil courts use a demurrer where other states use a motion to dismiss; Louisiana uses exceptions. People search this several ways. How to file a motion, how to write a motion to the court, what does filing a motion mean, parts of a legal motion, motion template for court, where do I file a motion. It is all the same filing and this page covers all of it. ## Questions this page answers ### What a motion is and how to write one - What is a motion in court? - What are the parts of a motion? - How do I write a motion? - How do I format a motion for court? - Is there a motion template for court, or a sample motion pro se filers can use? ### Filing, serving and answering a motion - How do I file and serve a motion? - What happens after I file a motion? - How do I respond to a motion filed against me? ### Motions for summary judgment - What is a motion for summary judgment, and how do I respond to one? - How do I file a motion for summary judgment? - How do I oppose a motion for summary judgment pro se? - What is a statement of undisputed facts? - What happens if I lose summary judgment? ### State names for motions, common mistakes and help - What is a motion called in my state? - What mistakes get a motion denied? - Who can write my motion for me? - Official resources ## What is a motion in court? A case is a series of decisions, and a motion is how you ask for one. Dismiss this case. Order the other side to hand over the documents. Postpone the trial. Let me file this late. Enter judgment because there is nothing genuinely in dispute. Set aside the default that was entered while I was in the hospital. In federal court, Fed. R. Civ. P. 7(b) states the requirement in one sentence: a request for a court order must be made by motion, the motion must be in writing unless made during a hearing or trial, it must state with particularity the grounds for seeking the order, and it must state the relief sought. Every state has an equivalent rule, and most read almost the same. Two things follow from that sentence. “With particularity” means a motion that says “for good cause shown” and nothing more has not stated grounds. And “the relief sought” means the judge should be able to read the first paragraph and know exactly what order to sign. The judge is not obliged to figure out what you want. A motion that is unclear about the order it asks for is the most common thing a busy court denies without reaching the substance. ## What are the parts of a motion? Most courts expect the same package, sometimes as one document and sometimes as several filed together. The parts of a legal motion, and what each one is for Document | What it does | Required? | Caption | Court, parties, case number, judge, and a title saying what the motion is | Always. Fed. R. Civ. P. 10(a) federally | Notice of motion or hearing | Tells the other side when and where it will be heard | Court-dependent. Some courts assign the date; some make you take one; some decide on the papers | The motion itself | Identifies the moving party, the relief requested, and the rule it is brought under | Always | Memorandum or brief | The legal argument: rule, controlling case law, application to your facts | Usually. Often subject to a page or word limit | Declaration or affidavit | Sworn facts from someone with personal knowledge — how evidence reaches the judge | Whenever the motion depends on facts. 28 U.S.C. § 1746 allows an unsworn declaration federally | Exhibits | The contract, letter, photographs, transcript excerpt — attached to and identified in the declaration | As needed, but they must be authenticated, not stapled on | Proposed order | A separate document the judge can sign | Required in many courts; some want it in editable form sent to chambers | Certificate of service | Signed statement of who you served, when and how | Always. A missing one gets the filing struck | Meet-and-confer certification | Says you tried to resolve it with the other side first | Required for discovery motions federally, Rule 37(a)(1), and by local rule in many courts for others | ## How do I write a motion? How to write a motion, in eight steps. The first two are where almost every denied motion is lost. - Find the rule that authorises what you are asking for. Every motion rests on a rule or a statute. A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) federally, and something else in your state. Summary judgment is Rule 56. An extension of time is Rule 6(b). Relief from a judgment is Rule 59(e) or Rule 60(b), and which one you use depends on how long ago the judgment was entered. Naming the correct rule is half the credibility of the filing. - Read your court’s local rules, and the judge’s standing order. This is the step people skip and it is the step that decides whether the motion is read. Federal district courts adopt local rules under 28 U.S.C. § 2071 and Fed. R. Civ. P. 83, and no two districts are the same: page limits, font size, line spacing, whether a proposed order is required, whether you need a hearing date before filing, whether courtesy copies go to chambers, how a discovery dispute must be raised. Individual judges then add standing orders on top. State courts do the same, one courthouse at a time. - Get your deadline right. A motion often has a deadline of its own — a scheduling order’s cutoff for dispositive motions, a rule’s window for a post-judgment motion, a statutory period for a motion to set aside a default. Federally, Rule 6(c)(1) requires a written motion and notice of hearing to be served at least 14 days before the hearing unless a rule or the court says otherwise, and Rule 6(d) adds three days for certain methods of service. Your state’s counting rules will differ, including whether weekends and holidays count. - State the relief first. Open with one sentence saying exactly what order you want. Then the rule. Then the facts. Then the argument. - Write the facts from the evidence you actually have. Every factual assertion in the argument should be traceable to a paragraph of your declaration or to an exhibit. A judge reading a motion is checking whether each claim is supported, and an unsupported assertion tends to make the supported ones look weaker. - Find the controlling case law. The decisions that bind your court: your state’s appellate courts for a state case, your federal circuit and the Supreme Court for a federal one. Persuasive authority from elsewhere is worth citing only when there is nothing binding, and it should be labelled as what it is. Then confirm each case is still good law. This is the step free research tools do worst. - Cite properly and quote accurately. Most courts expect standard citation form and pin cites to the page you are relying on. A misquoted case is worse than no case. - Keep it inside the limits. If the local rule says 25 pages, 25 pages is the limit, and a request to exceed it is its own motion, usually filed in advance. ### Is there a motion template for court, or a sample motion pro se filers can use? There are thousands of each, and that is the problem with them. A template carries the shape of a motion — caption, heading, signature block — and none of the three things that decide whether it is granted: the correct rule for your relief, your courthouse’s own formatting and filing requirements, and the authority that binds your judge. Many courts publish their own fillable forms for common motions, and those are worth using because they are already built to that court’s rules. A generic template found online is built to nobody’s. ### How do I format a motion for court? There is no national format, and that is the point. How to format a motion for court is answered by three documents in this order: your court system’s procedural rules, your courthouse’s local rules, and your judge’s standing order. Between them they fix the caption layout, the font and point size, line spacing, margins, page or word limits, whether a table of contents is required, whether a proposed order must accompany it, how exhibits are tabbed and whether the whole thing is filed as one PDF or several. A motion formatted to another court’s rules looks wrong to the clerk before anyone reads a word of it. ## How do I file and serve a motion? ### Where do I file a motion? With the clerk of the court where your case is already pending, under the same case number. Not in a different court, and not in the appellate court. ### Filing a motion with the clerk Most courts now use electronic filing, and most allow a self-represented party to file on paper at the clerk’s window or by mail, sometimes with a separate application for e-filing access. The clerk’s office will tell you the format and the number of copies. A prisoner’s filing is generally treated as filed on the day it is handed to prison officials for mailing under the prison mailbox rule, which matters enormously for a deadline — but confirm how your court applies it. ### Motion filing fees Most motions carry no separate fee, though some do: a motion to appear pro hac vice, some post-judgment motions, motions in certain state courts. The court’s fee schedule lists them. ### Serving a motion on the other parties Every other party gets a copy of everything you file. Under Fed. R. Civ. P. 5, papers after the original complaint are served on a party’s attorney if they have one, and electronic filing usually accomplishes service automatically on registered users. A party who is not registered gets mail or hand delivery, and you certify what you did. Serving the wrong person, or the party directly when they are represented by counsel, is a common and avoidable error. ## What happens after I file a motion? The other side gets a period to oppose, set by rule or by local rule. You usually get a shorter period to reply, and the reply is limited to answering what the opposition raised — new arguments raised for the first time in a reply are routinely disregarded. The court either decides on the papers or holds a hearing. Where a hearing is held, it is usually short and the judge has read the papers. Some courts issue a tentative ruling before the hearing, which you should check, because in some courts failing to contest a tentative in the required way means it becomes the order. Then an order issues. If the motion is denied, ask whether the denial is with or without prejudice, because that decides whether you can bring it again. If it is denied and it disposed of your case, the next question is whether and when you can appeal — see how an appeal works and how long you have to file the notice. ## How do I respond to a motion filed against me? Find your deadline immediately — it comes from the rule or from the local rules, not from the other side’s cover letter. If you cannot meet it, a motion for an extension filed before the deadline is usually granted and one filed after it usually is not. Understand what the motion actually asks for, and what standard applies. On a motion to dismiss, the court accepts your well-pleaded facts as true and asks whether they state a claim. On summary judgment, the court looks at the evidence and asks whether any material fact is genuinely disputed — and there you cannot rest on your pleading. You must put facts in the record, by declaration and exhibit, or the motion is granted. Answer every ground the motion raises. An argument you do not address is usually treated as conceded. And do not ignore it. In most courts an unopposed motion may be granted for that reason alone. ## What is a motion for summary judgment, and how do I respond to one? Summary judgment is the motion that ends most civil cases that do not settle, and it is the one a self-represented party is least prepared for. It deserves its own section. ### What does a Rule 56 motion ask for? A motion for summary judgment asks the court to decide the case, or one claim in it, without a trial, on the ground that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Federally that is Fed. R. Civ. P. 56. Every state has its own version, and California confusingly runs both a summary judgment and a summary adjudication track. ### How do I file a motion for summary judgment? Filing one, rather than opposing one, adds three requirements to the eight steps above. You must file the numbered statement of undisputed facts your court requires, each fact supported by a citation to admissible evidence. You must attach that evidence — declarations, deposition excerpts, authenticated documents — because the court decides on the record, not on the argument. And you must wait for the deadline your scheduling order sets for dispositive motions, which is one of the few deadlines in a civil case that is genuinely hard to extend. ### Why it is different from a motion to dismiss A motion to dismiss tests your complaint: the court assumes your facts are true and asks whether they add up to a claim. Summary judgment tests your evidence: the court assumes nothing and asks what you can actually prove. This is why the answer that worked at the pleading stage does not work here. ### How do I oppose a motion for summary judgment pro se? - Calendar the deadline the day you are served. Opposition periods for summary judgment are often longer than for ordinary motions and are set by local rule. Missing it is usually the end of the case. - Answer the statement of undisputed facts, line by line. A statement of undisputed facts is a numbered list of the facts the moving party says nobody disputes. Most courts require the moving party to file one, and require you to respond to each numbered fact, admitting it or disputing it with a citation to evidence. In many courts a fact you do not properly dispute is deemed admitted — which is how cases are lost without anyone arguing the merits. - Put your evidence in the record. A sworn declaration from you, declarations from your witnesses, the documents, the deposition excerpts. You cannot rest on what your complaint said. If the evidence exists only in your head, it is not in the record. - Identify the genuine dispute. You do not have to win the fact. You have to show a reasonable jury could find for you on it. That is a lower bar than people assume and it is the bar to aim at. - Address every claim the motion attacks. A claim you do not defend is gone. - If you genuinely need discovery to respond, say so in the form your rules require rather than simply failing to respond. Federally that is a Rule 56(d) declaration explaining what facts you cannot present and why. ### What happens if I lose summary judgment? If you lose summary judgment on every claim, the case is over at the trial level and a final judgment is entered. What follows is an appeal, and a grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo — no deference to the trial judge at all, which makes it one of the more favourable postures for an appellant. That is explained in the guide to appellate briefs and standards of review. ## What is a motion called in my state? Most states call it a motion. Some do not, and in those places searching for “motion” finds you the wrong form. Where the vocabulary changes State | What it is called instead | California | A demurrer takes the place of a motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action. In family law nothing is called a motion — the filing is a Request for Order, form FL-300. A motion to set aside a judgment is usually brought under Code of Civil Procedure § 473. | Louisiana | Exceptions rather than motions to dismiss: the peremptory exception of no cause of action, and the dilatory exception. | Texas | A Rule 91a motion to dismiss, special exceptions, and a plea to the jurisdiction each do work that other states put in one motion. Attacking a judgment after the ordinary deadline is a bill of review or a restricted appeal. In family cases it is a motion to modify the parent-child relationship or a motion for enforcement. | New York and New Jersey | An order to show cause is the route for urgent relief, as distinct from an ordinary notice of motion. New York Family Court proceeds by petition rather than by motion, including modification petitions and violation petitions. | If the vocabulary in your court is not on this list, the question to ask the clerk is not “how do I file a motion” but “what is the filing that asks the judge to do this.” ## What mistakes get a motion denied? - The local rules, not read. Wrong page limit, no proposed order, no hearing date, no courtesy copy, filed in a format the court does not accept. - The meet-and-confer requirement, skipped. In the courts that require it, the motion is denied on that ground alone and you file it again having wasted a month. - No evidence. Argument in a memorandum with no declaration and no exhibits, on a motion where the judge needs facts. - The opposition deadline, missed, and the motion granted as unopposed. - No certificate of service, or service on the wrong person. - Case law that is not binding on this court, or that has been overruled, offered as the reason the judge should rule your way. ## Who can write my motion for me? You can write it yourself. The steps above are the whole job, and none of them are secret. The alternative is paying an attorney by the hour to do exactly that, and a straightforward motion is commonly several hours of someone’s billing rate. If you already have a lawyer and the motion is not getting written, you are paying for that too. We are the option in between. Our software prepares the motion at your direction and you file it, at a price you can see before you buy. That means we pull the procedural rules for your court system and build the filing to them — caption, notice, page limit, proposed order, certificate of service, the meet-and-confer certification where the court requires one. We research the authority that binds your court and apply it to your facts in the memorandum. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold. Every case is checked against the reported decision, and checked again for later decisions that overruled it, before it goes in your document. The research runs both ways. The rules and the case law are searched for what works against the motion as hard as for what supports it, and anything adverse that turns up is cited with its source rather than left for the other side to find. It is research output from software, not advice about your case. For attorneys and firms: overflow motion drafting, to your specification and your deadline. Work the catalog does not list is a custom quote. You review, you sign, you file. The work product is yours. Motion preparationSee prices in the catalog· every citation checked · no intake interview, no consultation We are not attorneys, not paralegals and not a law firm. We do not represent you, we do not appear in court, and nothing we give you is legal advice. You review it, you sign it and you file it. ## More questions about filing a motion What does filing a motion mean? It means formally asking the judge, in writing, to make a ruling or enter an order in a case that is already open. You file it with the clerk and serve it on every other party, and the judge decides it on the papers or at a hearing. How much does it cost to file a motion? The court itself usually charges nothing to file a motion in a case that is already open, though some specific motions and some state courts do carry a fee. The cost people are really asking about is having one written: an attorney billing hourly commonly spends several hours on a straightforward motion and far more on a dispositive one. How long do I have to respond to a motion? It depends on your court and on the motion. The period comes from the procedural rules and the local rules, it is frequently between one and three weeks, and the method of service can add days to it. Find it in the rules the day you are served. What happens if I don’t respond to a motion? In most courts the motion can be granted as unopposed without the judge reaching the merits. On a summary judgment motion in federal court the judge still has to find the motion properly supported, but failing to contest the facts is close to fatal. What is a statement of undisputed facts? A numbered list of the facts the moving party says are not genuinely in dispute, each with a citation to evidence. Most courts require one with a summary judgment motion and require the opposing party to respond to each numbered item. A fact you do not properly dispute is often deemed admitted. What happens if I lose summary judgment? If it disposes of every claim, final judgment is entered and the case is over at the trial level. Your route from there is an appeal, and a grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo — the appellate court gives the trial judge no deference at all on it. Where do I file a motion? With the clerk of the court where your case is already pending, in the same case number. Not a different court, and not the appellate court, unless you are asking that court for something in a matter it already has. Do I have to serve a motion on the other side? Yes. Every party gets a copy of everything you file, and you file a certificate of service saying who you served, when and how. What is a proposed order? A separate one-page document containing the order you want the judge to sign. It lets the court grant your motion by signing rather than by drafting. Many courts require one; check the local rules. What is a notice of hearing on a motion? A first page telling the other side when and where the motion will be heard. Some courts assign the date, some require you to reserve one before filing, and some decide civil motions on the papers and never use a hearing notice at all. Can I file a motion if I don’t have a lawyer? Yes. 28 U.S.C. § 1654 gives you the right to conduct your own case in federal court, and every state allows self-representation in civil matters. The rules apply to you in full, which is why the rules are the thing to read first. Can I just use ChatGPT to write this? You can produce something shaped like a motion. What you will not get is your court’s rules applied or a single citation verified, and courts across the country have sanctioned filers, attorneys included, for filings containing cases that do not exist. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold and every case is checked against the reported decision before it goes in your document. Do you work with law firms? Yes. Solo and small-firm attorneys use us for overflow motion drafting, prepared to their specification and their deadline; work the catalog does not list is a custom quote. The attorney reviews, signs and files, and the work product is theirs. ## Official resources on filing a motion Your own courthouse’s local rules are the document this page cannot substitute for. Every federal district publishes them free on its own site. ### Federal rules on motions - Federal Rules of Civil ProcedureRules 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 37, 56, 59, 60 - Rule 56 — Summary JudgmentThe full text, with committee notes - Current federal rulesOfficial text of every federal rule set ### Federal court forms and fees - Federal court formsNational forms, free - District court fee scheduleWhat each filing costs, official ### State self-help for motions - California Courts Self-HelpForms and Request for Order - Texas Judicial Branch Self-HelpTexas forms and e-filing help - Florida Courts HelpApproved forms and self-help centres - Legal Services CorporationFind a legal aid office near you ### Free research for a motion - CourtListenerFree opinion search - govinfo — U.S. Courts OpinionsOfficial federal opinions ## Rules and cases cited on this page Fed. R. Civ. P. 5, 6, 7(b), 10(a), 11, 12(b), 37(a)(1), 56, 59(e), 60(b), 83 · 28 U.S.C. § 1746 · 28 U.S.C. § 2071 · 28 U.S.C. § 1654 · Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 473 · Cal. form FL-300 · Tex. R. Civ. P. 91a ## Guides and pages related to filing a motion What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? · What is post-conviction relief? · How do I write an appellate brief? {{BRAND}} is not a law firm. We are not attorneys and not paralegals, we do not represent you, and nothing here is legal advice. Our software prepares court filings at your direction that follow the rules of your court and rely on the highest-authority case law it can find, and it cites the law against you as well as the law for you. You review, sign and file the paperwork yourself, and you are responsible for what you file. --- Source: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/how-to-write-an-appellate-brief # How do I write an appellate brief? The short answer An appellate brief is the written argument that asks a higher court to change what the lower court did. It is built from the record of what already happened — no new evidence — and it argues that the trial court made a legal error that matters. In most appeals the brief is the whole case, because most appeals are decided without oral argument. ## Appellate briefs in short - An appeal is not a second trial. The appellate court reads the record and the briefs. It does not hear witnesses and it does not take new evidence. - The standard of review controls everything. Whether the court owes the trial judge deference on a given issue usually decides whether you win it. - An issue not raised in the trial court is usually forfeited on appeal. What you can argue was fixed before the appeal began. - The brief’s required sections are set by rule, and briefs are rejected by the clerk for missing them or for exceeding the word limit. - The brief follows a notice of appeal filed on a very short deadline, and the deadline for the brief itself runs from an event in the appellate court, not from the judgment. - Names differ: the first brief is the appellant’s brief in federal court and most states, the initial brief in Florida, the appellant’s opening brief in California, the opening brief in the Ninth Circuit. ## Questions this page answers ### How an appeal works and its deadlines - How do I appeal a court decision, step by step? - What is an appellate court? - How long do I have to file an appeal? - What is a notice of appeal, and how do I file one? - What is the record on appeal, and what is a designation of the record? - Common questions ### Writing the appellate brief - What is an appellate brief? - What is a standard of review? - What are the parts of an appellate brief? - How long can an appellate brief be? - How do I write an appellate brief myself? - What is the brief called in my court? ### Mistakes that sink an appeal, and help - What mistakes sink an appeal? - Who can write my appeal brief for me? - Official resources ## How do I appeal a court decision, step by step? Before the brief there is the appeal itself, and most of what decides an appeal happens before a word of the brief is written. This is how to file an appeal, in order. - Judgment is entered in the trial court. The clock starts here, not when you received the ruling and not when you understood it. - You file a notice of appeal in the trial court — not the appellate court. It is short: who is appealing, what judgment or order, to which court. This deadline is jurisdictional, which is a way of saying that no judge can forgive it. - The filing fee is paid. The appellate fee is separate from what you already paid below and is set by that court’s own fee schedule. - The record is designated and transmitted. This filing is the designation of the record: you tell the clerk which parts of the trial court file and which transcripts are to go up, and you order and pay for those transcripts. - The appellate court sets a briefing schedule, usually running from the date the record is filed. Federally, Fed. R. App. P. 31(a)(1) gives an appellant 40 days after the record is filed, an appellee 30 days after the appellant’s brief, and a reply 21 days after that and at least 7 days before argument. Circuit local rules often change the trigger, so read them. - Briefs are filed. Appellant, appellee, reply. - Oral argument, or not. Most appeals are decided on the briefs. - The court decides: affirm, reverse, vacate, remand, or modify. A published opinion binds later cases; an unpublished one may not. - Post-decision options exist and are narrow: a petition for rehearing, rehearing en banc, or review in the state supreme court or the United States Supreme Court. Each has its own short deadline. ### What is an appellate court? An appellate court reviews what a lower court did rather than trying the case itself. It hears no witnesses and takes no new evidence. In the federal system it is one of the thirteen courts of appeals, sitting in panels of three; in a state system it is usually an intermediate appellate court with the state supreme court above it. ### How long do I have to file an appeal? In an ordinary federal civil case, 30 days from entry of the judgment, under Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A). A criminal defendant has 14 days under Rule 4(b)(1)(A). You will see “60 days when the government is a party” repeated all over the internet, and it is a trap worth naming. Rule 4(a)(1)(B) gives 60 days only where the United States, a federal agency, or a federal officer or employee is a party in the way that rule describes. A civil rights case against state or local officials is not one of those — a Section 1983 appeal against a city, a county or a state officer gets 30 days like any other civil case, even though the defendants are government. Reading it the other way has cost people their appeals. Certain post-judgment motions restart the appeal clock and others do not, which is its own trap: a timely Rule 59 motion tolls it, an untimely one does not. States differ again — California allows 60 days from service of notice of entry, or 180 days if it was never served, on form APP-002. Find your own rule and your own trigger date before anything else on this page. ### What is the record on appeal, and what is a designation of the record? The record is everything the trial court had: the papers filed in the case, the exhibits admitted, and the transcript of the proceedings. Federally it is defined in Fed. R. App. P. 10 and transmitted under Rule 11; states call it the record on appeal, the clerk’s transcript, or the appendix. Two consequences follow, and they are the two things people most often get wrong. Nothing outside the record can be considered — a document you found afterwards, a witness who never testified, an explanation you never got to give. And you have to pay for the transcript, which is frequently the largest single cost of an appeal and is the point at which many appeals quietly stop. Order it early, well before the deadline to order has passed. The designation of the record is the filing in which you tell the clerk which parts of the file and which transcripts go up. Designate too little and the appellate court cannot see your error; designate everything and you pay for transcripts you do not need. If something that should be in the record is missing or wrong, most systems have a correction procedure — federally, Rule 10(e). Use it before you brief, not after. ## What is an appellate brief? The appellant files first, arguing what went wrong. The appellee answers, defending the judgment. The appellant may file a reply, limited to answering the answer. The brief is not a letter to the court and it is not a complaint about the outcome. It is a structured legal argument, confined to the record, addressed to judges who did not attend the trial and who will know only what the record and the briefs tell them. Most federal and state appellate courts decide the majority of their cases without oral argument. The brief is what is read. Where argument is held it is usually fifteen minutes a side, and the judges have already formed a view from the papers. What an appellate court can do: affirm, reverse, vacate, remand for a new trial or for further proceedings, or modify the judgment. What it will not do: hear your side of the story again, consider a document that is not in the record, or reverse because the result feels wrong. ## What is a standard of review? This is the most important concept in appellate practice and the one most often left out of a self-represented brief. For each issue, the appellate court applies a standard that tells it how much deference to give the trial judge. The standards of review, and how much weight each one gives the trial court Standard | Deference | Applies to | What you must show | De novo | None | Pure questions of law: statutory interpretation, contract construction, dismissal for failure to state a claim, summary judgment | That the trial court’s legal conclusion was wrong. The appellate court decides the question fresh. | Clear error | Substantial | A judge’s findings of fact after a bench trial. Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a)(6) | That the finding cannot stand on the evidence — not merely that you would have found differently. | Abuse of discretion | Heavy | Case management, evidence rulings, discovery, continuances, sanctions | That the decision was outside the range of permissible choices or rested on an error of law. | Substantial evidence | Heavy | A jury verdict; review of many administrative decisions | That no reasonable factfinder could have reached that result. | Plain error | Greatest | Issues never raised below, where review is available at all. Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b); United States v. Olano | Error, that is plain, that affected substantial rights — and the court still has discretion whether to correct it. | The practical lesson is to lead with the issues reviewed de novo. An appellant arguing that the jury believed the wrong witness is arguing into the teeth of the most deferential standard in the system. An appellant arguing that the judge misread a statute is arguing into the least deferential one. Appellate rules require the standard of review to be stated for each issue — it is not optional and it is not decoration. This is also why a grant of summary judgment is a comparatively good thing to appeal: it is reviewed de novo, with no deference at all. What summary judgment is, and how it is opposed, is covered on the motions page. ## What are the parts of an appellate brief? Federal courts of appeal set out the appellant’s brief in Fed. R. App. P. 28(a). Most state appellate rules follow a closely similar list, in a different order and with different names. - Corporate disclosure statement, where a party is a corporation. - Table of contents, with page references. - Table of authorities — every case, statute and other authority, with the pages they appear on. Courts do check this. - Jurisdictional statement — the basis for the trial court’s jurisdiction, the basis for the appellate court’s, the dates establishing the appeal is timely, and that the judgment is final or otherwise appealable. An appeal from an order that is not appealable is dismissed, and this section is where that becomes visible. - Statement of the issues presented for review. Usually a small number of questions, written so that the answer you want is the natural one. This is the most reworked part of a good brief. - Statement of the case — the facts relevant to the issues, the procedural history, and the rulings under review, with a citation to the record for every assertion. An uncited factual assertion is disregarded at best and invites a sanction at worst. - Summary of the argument — a genuine summary of the reasoning, not a list of headings. Some judges read this and the standard of review before anything else. - Argument — the substance. For each issue: the contention, the standard of review, the controlling authority, and its application to the facts of this record. Point headings in the table of contents should read as the outline of the argument. - Conclusion — a short statement of the precise relief sought. Reverse and remand for a new trial. Vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing. Reverse and direct entry of judgment. Say which. - Certificate of compliance with the type-volume limit, and a certificate of service. The appellee’s brief, under Rule 28(b), omits several sections unless it disagrees with the appellant’s version. The reply brief, under Rule 28(c), is confined to answering the appellee. Separately, the record excerpts or appendix — Fed. R. App. P. 30 federally — must contain everything you cite. ## How long can an appellate brief be? Federally, Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7) sets a type-volume limit: a principal brief may contain no more than 13,000 words, and a reply brief no more than half of that, which the Appendix of Length Limits states as 6,500 words. The certificate of compliance under Rule 32(g) states the count. Rule 32(a)(5) also governs the type itself: a proportionally spaced face must be 14-point or larger and must have serifs, with sans-serif permitted only in headings and captions, and Rule 32(a)(4) requires double spacing on 8½ × 11 paper with one-inch margins. State limits differ widely, and several states still use page limits rather than word counts. Exceeding the limit is a clerk-level rejection in most courts, and leave to exceed it is a motion that has to be filed in advance and is often denied. Shorter is generally better. The limits are ceilings, not targets, and a thirty-page brief with three strong issues does better than a sixty-page brief with nine. ## How do I write an appellate brief myself? Ten steps, in order. The first four decide whether you have an appeal at all; the rest are the brief. - Protect the deadline first. Covered above. Miss the notice of appeal and there is no appeal to brief. - Order the record. Transcripts ordered and paid for, and the clerk’s record designated. The brief’s deadline typically runs from the record being filed rather than from the judgment. - Read the record, all of it, with the issues in mind. This is the largest single block of work in an appeal and there is no shortcut. You are looking for the exact place where each error happened and for the place where it was objected to. - Check preservation for every issue. Was the objection made, the argument raised, the offer of proof put on the record? An issue raised for the first time on appeal is generally forfeited, and the exceptions are narrow. This check often eliminates the issue you care most about. - Choose the issues. Two to four strong ones. A brief that raises nine issues tells the court that none of them is strong, and appellate judges say so openly. - Identify the standard of review for each surviving issue, and rank them so the de novo issues come first. - Research the controlling authority. For a federal appeal, the Supreme Court and your own circuit; for a state appeal, the state supreme court and the intermediate appellate district that covers your case. Then verify each one is still good law. In an appellate brief a citation to an overruled case is a serious credibility problem, and courts have sanctioned filers for citing authority that does not exist. - Draft with a record citation in every factual sentence and a pin cite in every legal one. - Build the tables, run the word count, complete the certificate of compliance, assemble the appendix, and check the local rules of that specific appellate court for its own additions — cover colour, number of paper copies, electronic format, whether a separate excerpts volume is required. - File and serve on the schedule, and calendar the answering brief and your reply. Steps 3 and 7 are why appellate briefs cost what they cost. The record reading is hours, and the research is the part that cannot be done well without a tool that tells you whether a case still stands. Free research — CourtListener, govinfo, Justia — finds opinions. Confirming that a decision has not been overruled, and finding the later case that limits it before your opponent does, is what the big paid research services sell. In an appeal, where the panel will read what you cite, it is not optional. ## What is the brief called in my court? The same document has different names, and each one is its own search. The first brief, by court Court | First brief | Answering brief | Federal courts of appeal | Appellant’s brief | Appellee’s brief, then a reply. Fed. R. App. P. 28, 31 | Ninth Circuit practice | Opening brief | Answering brief, then reply | Florida | Initial brief | Answer brief, then reply. “Answer brief” is close to unique to Florida | California | Appellant’s opening brief | Respondent’s brief — California says respondent, not appellee | New York Appellate Division | Brief for appellant | Brief for respondent. Getting the appeal ready is called perfecting it | Most other states | Appellant’s brief | Appellee’s brief | There are also briefs that are not party briefs. An amicus curiae brief is filed by a non-party with the court’s permission or the parties’ consent. A brief in support of a petition for review or for certiorari is a different document with its own shorter limits — the Supreme Court’s own requirements are in its Rules of the Court. ## What mistakes sink an appeal? - The notice of appeal, filed late. Nothing after this matters. - Issues that were never preserved in the trial court, argued at length and disposed of in a sentence. - Too many issues, so that the good one is buried at page forty. - No standard of review, or the wrong one, so the brief argues facts to a court reviewing for clear error. - Factual assertions with no record citation, which the court will not credit. - Word limit exceeded or certificate of compliance missing, and the brief bounced by the clerk with the deadline running. - Authority that has been overruled or that is not binding on this court. ## Who can write my appeal brief for me? You can write it yourself. The sections above are the real outline, and self-represented parties file briefs in every circuit. The alternative is appellate counsel, and an appeal is the filing where the gap between what it costs and what people can pay is widest. The record review alone is usually the larger half of the bill. Almost nobody publishes a number for it. Our software does. It prepares the brief at your direction; you review it, sign it and file it. That means we work from the record and build the brief to that court’s rules of appellate procedure — the required sections, the statement of the issues, the standard of review stated for each one, a record citation behind every factual assertion, the tables, the certificate of compliance, the appendix. We research the authority that binds the court hearing your appeal. Every rule we cite comes from the official text we hold, and every case is checked against the reported decision and checked again for later decisions that overruled it. On an appeal that is not a nicety: the panel will read what you cite. The research covers what an appeal turns on: where each issue was raised below, the standard of review it faces, and the authority that binds the panel hearing your appeal, including the law against you, cited with its source. It is research output from software, not advice about your case. For attorneys and firms: this is the work solo and small-firm practitioners run through the engine most. Opening, answering and reply briefs, drafted to your specification and your deadline, and a custom quote for work the catalog does not list. You review, you sign, you file. The work product is yours. Appellate brief preparationSee prices in the catalog· every citation checked · no intake interview, no consultation We are not attorneys, not paralegals and not a law firm. We do not represent you, we do not appear in court, and nothing we give you is legal advice. You review it, you sign it and you file it. ## More questions about appellate briefs How long do I have to file an appeal? In an ordinary federal civil case, 30 days from entry of judgment. A criminal defendant has 14 days. The 60-day rule applies only where a federal party, officer or employee is in the case — not to a suit against state or local officials. States differ and several are shorter, so find your own rule before anything else. What is a notice of appeal, and how do I file a notice of appeal? A short document filed in the trial court saying who is appealing, what judgment or order is being appealed, and to which court. It is what starts an appeal, and its deadline is jurisdictional: no judge can extend it after it has passed. What is the record on appeal? Everything the trial court had: the papers filed, the exhibits admitted, and the transcripts. The appellate court will not look at anything outside it, and you usually have to order and pay for the transcripts yourself. How much does it cost to appeal? Three costs, and the second is the one that surprises people. The appellate court’s own filing fee, set by that court’s fee schedule. The transcripts, which are charged per page by the court reporter and are frequently the largest cost. And the brief. What is a designation of the record? The filing that tells the clerk which parts of the trial court file and which transcripts are to be sent up to the appellate court. Designate too little and the court cannot see your error; designate everything and you pay for transcripts nobody reads. Do I need a transcript to appeal? Almost always, if any of your issues depend on what was said in the courtroom. An appellate court cannot find an error it cannot see, and a missing transcript is usually resolved against the appellant. Can I appeal without a lawyer? Yes. You may file and argue your own appeal in the federal courts of appeals and in state appellate courts. Nothing is relaxed for you — the deadlines, the required sections and the word limits apply in full, which is exactly why the brief has to be built to the rules. How much does it cost to have an appellate brief written? An attorney handling a civil appeal typically charges a five-figure flat fee or bills the record review and the brief by the hour, and the record review is usually the larger half. Almost nobody publishes a number, which is why the question gets asked so often. What is the difference between an initial brief and an opening brief? Nothing, except where you are. Florida says initial brief, California and the Ninth Circuit say opening brief, the federal rules and most states say appellant’s brief. Same document. How long is an appellate brief? Federally, 13,000 words for a principal brief and 6,500 for a reply, under Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7) and the Appendix of Length Limits. State limits vary and some are still stated in pages. Most good briefs come in well under the ceiling. Can I raise a new issue on appeal? Usually not. An issue not raised in the trial court is generally forfeited, with narrow exceptions such as a pure question of law on undisputed facts, a jurisdictional defect, or plain error in a criminal case. Do appellate courts hold oral argument in every case? No. Most appeals in most courts are decided on the briefs. Assume the brief is the whole case. Can I just use ChatGPT to write this? You can produce something shaped like a brief. What you will not get is your appellate court’s rules applied or a single citation verified, and courts across the country have sanctioned filers, attorneys included, for briefs containing cases that do not exist. On an appeal the panel reads what you cite, so every rule we use comes from the official text we hold and every case is checked against the reported decision. Do you work with law firms? Yes. Solo and small-firm attorneys use us for overflow brief drafting, prepared to their specification and their deadline; work the catalog does not list is a custom quote. The attorney reviews, signs and files, and the work product is theirs. ## Official resources on appellate briefs Your own appellate court’s local rules sit on top of everything below and change the details. Every circuit and every state appellate court publishes them free. ### The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure - Federal Rules of Appellate ProcedureThe full set, with committee notes - FRAP 4 — when the notice of appeal is dueRead 4(a)(1)(B) carefully before assuming 60 days - FRAP 28 — the required sectionsWhat must be in the brief - FRAP 32 — form and lengthWord limits, 14-point serif type, margins ### Federal rules, Supreme Court rules and dockets - Current federal rulesOfficial text and pending amendments - Supreme Court rules and guidanceFor certiorari petitions — always the operative version - Find a case (PACER)Appellate dockets and filings ### Reading appellate opinions free - CourtListenerCircuit and state appellate opinions - govinfo — U.S. Courts OpinionsOfficial published opinions - Justia U.S. Supreme Court CenterEvery SCOTUS decision in full ### Free help with an appeal - Legal Services CorporationFind your funded legal aid office ## Rules and cases cited on this page Fed. R. App. P. 3, 4, 10, 11, 28, 30, 31, 32 and the Appendix of Length Limits · Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a)(6), 59 · Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b) · Cal. Rules of Court and form APP-002 · Fla. R. App. P. · N.Y. C.P.L.R. art. 55 United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725 (1993) ## Guides and pages related to appellate briefs How do I file a motion in court? · What is post-conviction relief? · What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? {{BRAND}} is not a law firm. We are not attorneys and not paralegals, we do not represent you, and nothing here is legal advice. Our software prepares court filings at your direction that follow the rules of your court and rely on the highest-authority case law it can find, and it cites the law against you as well as the law for you. You review, sign and file the paperwork yourself, and you are responsible for what you file. --- Source: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/supreme-court-petitions # How do I petition the U.S. Supreme Court? The short answer You ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear your case by filing a petition for a writ of certiorari. It is a written request that the Court review a final decision of a federal court of appeals or of the highest state court that could decide your case. The Court’s own Rule 10 says review “is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion.” You usually have 90 days from the judgment, the petition must follow Rule 14 part by part, and a printed booklet petition is limited to 9,000 words. ## Supreme Court petitions in short - A petition for a writ of certiorari (people say “cert”) asks the Court to take your case. It is not an appeal the Court must hear. - The Court looks for “compelling reasons,” such as two courts splitting on the same federal question. Rule 10 lists them, and it says a petition is rarely granted to fix a wrong fact finding. - The deadline is 90 days after the judgment, counted from the judgment and not from the mandate. A timely rehearing petition in the lower court restarts the count. - A Justice can extend the deadline by up to 60 days, for good cause, if you apply at least 10 days before it runs out. The rule says extensions are “not favored.” - Rule 14 sets the parts of the petition and their order. Rule 33 sets the format and the word limit. - Extraordinary writs (mandamus, prohibition, habeas corpus) are a separate, narrower path under Rule 20. ## What is a petition for a writ of certiorari? It is the paper you file to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision you lost. You do not get the writ by asking; the Court has to grant your petition. The first sentence of Rule 10 of the Rules of the Supreme Court reads: “Review on a writ of certiorari is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion. A petition for a writ of certiorari will be granted only for compelling reasons.” The numbers show what that means in practice. The Chief Justice’s 2025 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary reports that 3,856 cases were filed in the Supreme Court in its 2024 Term, and that 73 cases were argued. The gap between those two numbers is the point. So a petition is not a second appeal. It is an argument that your case raises a question the whole country needs answered, and that the Court should spend one of its few argued cases on it. ## Which cases can the Supreme Court review? Which statute applies depends on the court that decided your case. The two main roads to the Supreme Court on certiorari Your case came from | The statute | What it requires | A federal court of appeals | 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1) | Cases in the courts of appeals may be reviewed “by writ of certiorari granted upon the petition of any party to any civil or criminal case, before or after rendition of judgment or decree.” | A state court | 28 U.S.C. § 1257(a) | A final judgment of “the highest court of a State in which a decision could be had,” and the case must turn on a federal question: the validity of a federal treaty or statute, a state statute challenged under federal law, or a right “specially set up or claimed under the Constitution or the treaties or statutes of” the United States. | The state-court road has two traps. First, the judgment must be final, and it must come from the highest state court that could decide your case. If your state’s supreme court had a chance to review it and you skipped that step, you are not there yet. Second, § 1257(a) reaches only the federal questions it lists. A state-law issue alone, however important to you, does not fit. Under § 1257(b), the District of Columbia Court of Appeals counts as a state’s highest court. And Rule 14.1(g)(i) makes a state-court petition show when and how the federal question was raised below and how the state courts ruled on it. ## What does the Supreme Court look for in a petition? Rule 10 lists the kinds of reasons the Court considers. It says they are “neither controlling nor fully measuring the Court’s discretion,” but they show what the Court means by a compelling reason. In plain words: Rule 10: the reasons the Court considers Rule | What it says, in plain words | 10(a) | A federal court of appeals decided an important matter differently from another court of appeals, or decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with a state court of last resort, or departed so far from the usual course of judicial proceedings that the Court should step in. | 10(b) | A state court of last resort decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with another state’s highest court or with a federal court of appeals. | 10(c) | A state court or a federal court of appeals decided an important question of federal law that the Supreme Court has not settled but should, or decided an important federal question in a way that conflicts with the Supreme Court’s own decisions. | Then comes the sentence most people need to read twice. Rule 10 ends: “A petition for a writ of certiorari is rarely granted when the asserted error consists of erroneous factual findings or the misapplication of a properly stated rule of law.” So “the court got my facts wrong” or “the court applied the right rule badly” is usually not enough. Rule 10 points instead to conflicts between courts and to conflicts with the Supreme Court’s own decisions. ## What is the deadline to file a cert petition? The deadline is set by Rule 13 and by statute. Miss it and the petition is over before it starts: Rule 13.2 says “The Clerk will not file any petition for a writ of certiorari that is jurisdictionally out of time.” - The basic rule. Rule 13.1: a petition to review a judgment of a state court of last resort or a federal court of appeals “is timely when it is filed with the Clerk of this Court within 90 days after entry of the judgment.” For civil cases, 28 U.S.C. § 2101(c) sets the same ninety days. - When state supreme court review was discretionary and denied. Rule 13.1 also says that if you are seeking review of a lower state court’s judgment that was subject to discretionary review by the state court of last resort, the petition is timely when filed “within 90 days after entry of the order denying discretionary review.” - The clock starts at the judgment, not the mandate. Rule 13.3: the time runs “from the date of entry of the judgment or order sought to be reviewed, and not from the issuance date of the mandate.” Do not wait for the mandate to start counting. - Rehearing restarts it. Also Rule 13.3: if a petition for rehearing is timely filed in the lower court by any party, the time for everyone runs from the date rehearing is denied, or, if rehearing is granted, from the later judgment. - Extensions. Rule 13.5: “For good cause, a Justice may extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari for a period not exceeding 60 days.” It “must be filed with the Clerk at least 10 days before the date the petition is due, except in extraordinary circumstances.” The rule ends: “An application to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari is not favored.” ## What must a cert petition contain? Rule 14.1 says a petition “shall contain, in the order indicated” these parts. In plain words: - The questions presented. Short, not argumentative, not repetitive. They go on the first page after the cover, and nothing else may appear on that page. The Court considers only the questions set out or “fairly included therein.” - The parties and related cases. A list of all parties in the court whose judgment you want reviewed, a corporate disclosure statement if Rule 29.6 requires one, and a list of directly related cases in state and federal courts, each with the court, docket number, caption and date of judgment. - A table of contents and a table of authorities. Required when a booklet petition runs over 1,500 words. The table of contents includes the items in the appendix. - Citations of the opinions below. The official and unofficial reports of the opinions and orders entered in your case. - A statement of jurisdiction. The date of the judgment, the date of any rehearing order, the date and terms of any extension, and the statute that gives the Court jurisdiction (for example § 1254(1) or § 1257(a)). - The provisions involved. The constitutional provisions, statutes and regulations involved, quoted word for word with citations. If they are long, cite them here and put the text in the appendix. - A statement of the case. The facts that matter to the questions. For a state case, where and how the federal question was raised and ruled on below. For a federal case, the basis for jurisdiction in the trial court. - The reasons for granting the petition. Rule 14.1(h) calls it “a direct and concise argument amplifying the reasons relied on for allowance of the writ,” and points back to Rule 10. This is where you show the split, the conflict, or the importance. - The appendix. The opinions and orders below, any rehearing order, the judgment, and anything else essential to understand the petition, in the order Rule 14.1(i) lists. Three more rules catch people. Rule 14.2: there is no separate brief in support; every argument goes inside the petition, and “the Clerk will not file any petition for a writ of certiorari to which any supporting brief is annexed or appended.” Rule 14.4: failing to present what is essential “with accuracy, brevity, and clarity” is “sufficient reason for the Court to deny a petition.” And Rule 14.5 gives one second chance: if the Clerk finds a petition filed on time and in good faith is in the wrong form, the Clerk returns it with a letter, and a corrected petition submitted no more than 60 days after that letter is treated as timely. ## What format and word limit apply to a petition? A paid petition is printed as a booklet under Rule 33.1. Other formats apply in some cases; read Rule 33 to see which applies to you. For the booklet, the rule sets out the following. Rule 33.1: the booklet format for a petition Item | What Rule 33.1 requires | Page size | A 6⅛ by 9¼ inch booklet, typeset (33.1(a)) | Typeface | A Century family font, 12-point, with 2-point or more leading; footnotes in 10-point; quotations over 50 words indented; text on both sides of the page (33.1(b)) | Paper, margins, binding | Opaque, unglazed paper of at least 60-pound weight; margins of at least three-fourths of an inch; bound firmly along the left margin (33.1(c)) | Word limit | 9,000 words for a petition for a writ of certiorari or a petition for an extraordinary writ (33.1(g)(i)) | Cover | 65-pound paper; white for a petition (33.1(e) and (g)(i)) | Copies | Forty copies; if not submitted through the Court’s electronic filing system, also one unbound copy on 8½ by 11 inch paper (33.1(f)) | Word-count certificate | A separate certificate stating the number of words, signed by you if you are the unrepresented party; footnotes count (33.1(h)) | What counts toward the 9,000 words. Rule 33.1(d) leaves out the questions presented, the list of parties and the corporate disclosure statement, the table of contents, the table of cited authorities, the listing of counsel at the end, and the appendix. Footnotes count. Word-for-word quotations of the provisions involved, if set out in the body, do not count. You can ask to exceed the limit, but the rule says such an application “is not favored” and it must reach the Clerk at least 15 days before your filing date. ## What is an extraordinary writ, and when does it apply? Rule 20 covers a different kind of petition: one asking the Court itself to issue a writ, such as mandamus, prohibition or habeas corpus. The power comes from 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), which lets the Supreme Court “issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.” Rule 20.1 sets the bar, and it is high. Issuing such a writ “is not a matter of right, but of discretion sparingly exercised.” The petition must show three things, all of them: - that the writ “will be in aid of the Court’s appellate jurisdiction”; - “that exceptional circumstances warrant the exercise of the Court’s discretionary powers”; and - “that adequate relief cannot be obtained in any other form or from any other court.” The rule does not define “exceptional circumstances” with a list. What it does make plain is the third point: if another court can give you the relief, or another kind of filing can, the extraordinary writ is the wrong tool. Extraordinary writs under Rule 20 Writ | What the petition must add | Mandamus or prohibition | Rule 20.3(a): the name and office or function of every person against whom relief is sought, and “with particularity why the relief sought is not available in any other court,” with a copy of the judgment and any related opinion appended | Habeas corpus | Rule 20.4(a): compliance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 and 2242, including the reasons for not applying to the district court where you are held; for a state judgment, how and where state remedies were exhausted. The rule adds: “This writ is rarely granted.” | An extraordinary writ petition is captioned “In re [name of petitioner],” follows the form of a cert petition under Rule 14 “insofar as applicable,” and is prepared under Rules 33 and 34 (Rule 20.2). The booklet word limit is the same 9,000 words. The petition must be served as Rule 29 requires; serving it is your job, not the software’s. ## How do I file a cert petition, step by step? - Fix the deadline first. Count 90 days from the judgment or the rehearing order (Rule 13). Any extension request goes in at least 10 days early. - Confirm the Court can hear it. Section 1254(1) for a federal court of appeals; § 1257(a) for a final judgment of the highest state court that could decide it, on a federal question raised below. - Find your Rule 10 reason. A conflict between courts, or a conflict with a Supreme Court decision, on an important federal question. - Write the questions presented. One page, short, not argumentative. - Build the petition in Rule 14 order. Every part, in order, with the appendix. - Format and count. The Rule 33.1 booklet, 9,000 words or fewer, with the word-count certificate. - File and serve as the rules require. File with the Clerk and serve the other parties under Rule 29. ## Is there software that prepares a Supreme Court petition? You can write it yourself, and this page is meant to help you do it. If you want help with the paperwork, {{BRAND}} is AI litigation software that prepares cert-style petitions and extraordinary writ petitions at your direction. You decide the questions, the facts and the arguments. The software builds the petition in the order Rule 14 requires, sets it in the Rule 33.1 booklet format, and counts the words the way Rule 33.1(d) says to count them. It reads the rules from the Court’s official text. It researches the case law, starting with the Supreme Court and the highest courts below, and it shows the cases that cite each decision and the cases that decision cites, so you can see how a case has been treated. Every citation is checked against the reported decision before it goes in. Law that cuts against you is shown too, with its source, not hidden. It is research output from software, not advice about your case. The work runs in 15 phases, 93 defined steps and 3 checkpoints. By default, you approve twice, and the whole filing gets a final read before it ships. You sign, file and serve the petition. Cert-style or extraordinary writ petitionSee prices in the catalog· every citation checked · 3 checkpoints, you approve twice {{BRAND}} is not a law firm. It does not represent you, does not appear in court, and does not file or serve anything for you. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one can promise the Court will grant a petition. ## More questions about Supreme Court petitions Does the Supreme Court have to hear my case? No. Rule 10 says review on certiorari “is not a matter of right, but of judicial discretion,” and a petition is granted “only for compelling reasons.” The 2025 Year-End Report counts 3,856 cases filed in the 2024 Term and 73 argued. How long do I have to file a petition for certiorari? Ninety days after entry of the judgment you want reviewed, under Rule 13.1. The time runs from the judgment, not from the mandate. A timely petition for rehearing in the lower court moves the start to the date rehearing is denied. Can I ask the Supreme Court to review a state court decision? Yes, if it is a final judgment of the highest state court in which a decision could be had and it turns on a federal question, under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(a). A state-law issue alone does not fit that statute. How long can a cert petition be? A booklet petition prepared under Rule 33.1 is limited to 9,000 words. The questions presented, the list of parties, the tables, and the appendix do not count. Footnotes do. Other formats apply in some cases; read Rule 33. Does the software file my petition for me? No. It prepares the petition at your direction. You review it, sign it, file it with the Clerk, and serve the other parties as the rules require. ## Official resources on Supreme Court petitions Everything below is free and comes from the source. ### The Supreme Court’s rules - Rules and guidanceSupreme Court of the United States, the current Rules - Rules of the Supreme Court (2026)The full text, effective March 16, 2026 ### Statutes on Supreme Court review - 28 U.S.C. § 1254Review of federal courts of appeals - 28 U.S.C. § 1257Review of state courts - 28 U.S.C. § 2101Time for certiorari - 28 U.S.C. § 1651Writs ### The Supreme Court’s caseload figures - 2025 Year-End ReportCaseload of the Court for the 2024 Term ## Rules and statutes cited on this page Sup. Ct. R. 10, 13, 14, 20, 33 (2026) · 28 U.S.C. § 1254 · 28 U.S.C. § 1257 · 28 U.S.C. § 1651 · 28 U.S.C. § 2101(c) ## Guides and pages related to Supreme Court petitions How do I write an appellate brief? · What is post-conviction relief? · What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? · Petition prices in the catalog Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You remain the filer. {{BRAND}} is AI litigation software. It prepares court papers at your direction from the rules of your court and the case law it finds, including the law against you. It does not represent you and makes no promise or prediction about any result. You review, sign, file and serve the papers yourself, and you are responsible for what you file. --- Source: https://www.legalopsdepot.com/civil-rights/prisoners # Can a person in prison file a Section 1983 lawsuit? The short answer Yes. A person in a jail or prison can sue the officials who violated their constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. But a federal law called the Prison Litigation Reform Act adds rules that apply only to people in custody. The biggest one: you must finish the jail or prison grievance process first, on its deadlines. The court also screens the complaint before the case goes forward, and money for mental or emotional injury needs a prior showing of physical injury or a sexual act. ## Prisoner civil rights suits in short - Section 1983 covers people acting for a state or local government, which includes jail and prison staff at state and county facilities. - Before filing about prison conditions, you must use every step of the grievance process that is available to you, and do it properly, on time. Skipping this step can end the case. - The court reviews a prisoner’s complaint against government officers early, and dismisses claims that are frivolous, fail to state a claim, or ask for money from someone immune. - For mental or emotional injury, you need a prior showing of physical injury or the commission of a sexual act. - Medical care and safety claims by people serving a sentence turn on “deliberate indifference,” which means more than a mistake. - The filing deadline is borrowed from your state’s personal injury law, so it is different in every state. This page is written for the person in custody and for the family members who are often the ones reading it. For the basics of Section 1983 that apply to everyone, read What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? first. This page covers what is different when the person suing is in custody. ## Questions this page answers ### Who can sue, who can be sued and which claims - Who can be sued, and who counts as a prisoner? - What claims come up most? ### The extra rules for prisoner lawsuits - The grievance rule - Screening by the court - The physical injury rule - The filing deadline ### Filing a prisoner civil rights suit, step by step - The steps, in order - What the software prepares - Common questions ## Who can be sued, and who counts as a prisoner? Section 1983 makes liable “every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia” deprives someone of “any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws.” In plain words: people who act with the power of a state or local government. In a state prison or a county jail, that usually means officers, sergeants, wardens, nurses and doctors who work for the facility, and the people who set its policies. Section 1983 does not reach federal officers. Someone in a federal prison is in a different and narrower situation, which the Section 1983 guide explains. The special prisoner rules use a broad definition. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(h), a “prisoner” is “any person incarcerated or detained in any facility who is accused of, convicted of, sentenced for, or adjudicated delinquent for, violations of criminal law or the terms and conditions of parole, probation, pretrial release, or diversionary program.” That covers a person held in a county jail awaiting trial as well as a person serving a prison sentence. The Supreme Court said the same in Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015): the Prison Litigation Reform Act “applies to both pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners.” ## Do I have to file a grievance before I sue? Yes, if the lawsuit is about prison conditions. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) says: “No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.” “Administrative remedies” means the facility’s grievance system: the complaint form, the appeal, and every further appeal it offers. “Exhausted” means you took it all the way to the end. ### “Proper” exhaustion: deadlines count In Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81 (2006), a prisoner filed his grievance late, and it was rejected as untimely. He argued that, since no grievance process was left for him, he had exhausted. The Supreme Court disagreed: “We hold that proper exhaustion of administrative remedies is necessary.” The Court explained that “proper exhaustion demands compliance with an agency’s deadlines and other critical procedural rules.” In practice, that means a late grievance, a grievance on the wrong form, or a missed appeal can end the federal case before a judge ever looks at what happened. The Court noted in Woodford that grievance deadlines are often short, describing a range of 14 to 30 days given by the United States in that case. Your facility’s own handbook sets your deadline. Find it the first day. ### When a grievance process is not “available” The statute only requires remedies that are “available.” In Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016), the Supreme Court rejected a general “special circumstances” excuse, but it explained that an inmate “must exhaust available remedies, but need not exhaust unavailable ones.” The Court described three kinds of situations where a remedy on the books is not available: Ross v. Blake: three ways a grievance process can be unavailable Situation | What the Court said | A dead end | The procedure “operates as a simple dead end—with officers unable or consistently unwilling to provide any relief to aggrieved inmates.” | Too confusing to use | The scheme is “so opaque that it becomes, practically speaking, incapable of use,” so that “no ordinary prisoner can discern or navigate it.” | Staff block it | “Prison administrators thwart inmates from taking advantage of a grievance process through machination, misrepresentation, or intimidation.” | Be careful with this. The Court also said that when a process can reasonably be read more than one way, “the inmate should err on the side of exhaustion.” If you are relying on one of these three situations, write down every fact as it happens: the dates, the names, what was said, and copies of every form and response. ## What is screening, and why was my complaint reviewed before the defendants answered? A prisoner’s complaint against government officers is reviewed by the court early, before docketing if that is feasible. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a) says: “The court shall review, before docketing, if feasible or, in any event, as soon as practicable after docketing, a complaint in a civil action in which a prisoner seeks redress from a governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.” Under § 1915A(b), the court “shall identify cognizable claims or dismiss the complaint, or any portion of the complaint,” if it “is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted” or “seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief.” Section 1997e(c)(1) gives the court a similar power to dismiss prison-conditions cases on those grounds. Screening is why the complaint itself matters so much. It has to state facts, not conclusions: who did what, on what date, and how it violated a specific right. A complaint that says only “they violated my rights” is the kind that does not survive this review. ## Do I need a physical injury to sue? For mental or emotional injury, yes, unless there was a sexual act. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e) says: “No Federal civil action may be brought by a prisoner confined in a jail, prison, or other correctional facility, for mental or emotional injury suffered while in custody without a prior showing of physical injury or the commission of a sexual act (as defined in section 2246 of title 18).” The rule is about one kind of injury, mental or emotional injury. Write down every physical injury and every medical visit, and keep copies of medical requests and records you are allowed to have. How courts in your circuit apply this rule to other kinds of relief is something to check in your circuit’s decisions before you file. ## What claims come up most for people in custody? Claims by people serving a sentence usually rest on the Eighth Amendment, which forbids “cruel and unusual punishments.” Claims by people held before trial rest on the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, as in Kingsley. Three Supreme Court decisions set the standards you will see cited most. The standards courts apply to common custody claims The claim | The case | The standard, in the Court’s words | Medical care (serving a sentence) | Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976) | “deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the ‘unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain’” that the Eighth Amendment forbids | Safety and conditions (serving a sentence) | Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) | an official is liable “only if he knows that inmates face a substantial risk of serious harm and disregards that risk by failing to take reasonable measures to abate it” | Excessive force (held before trial) | Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015) | “a pretrial detainee must show only that the force purposely or knowingly used against him was objectively unreasonable” | ### Medical care: what deliberate indifference is and is not Estelle v. Gamble said the indifference can be shown “by prison doctors in their response to the prisoner’s needs or by prison guards in intentionally denying or delaying access to medical care or intentionally interfering with the treatment once prescribed.” But the Court drew a firm line: “Medical malpractice does not become a constitutional violation merely because the victim is a prisoner.” A disagreement with a doctor’s judgment, such as whether an X-ray was needed, was in that case “a classic example of a matter for medical judgment,” and at most malpractice for a state court. So the complaint has to show more than bad care. It has to show a serious medical need and someone who knew about it and ignored it, delayed it, or blocked it. ### Safety: the official has to know Farmer v. Brennan held that the official “must both be aware of facts from which the inference could be drawn that a substantial risk of serious harm exists, and he must also draw the inference.” You do not need a confession. The Court said knowledge can be shown “in the usual ways, including inference from circumstantial evidence,” and that a factfinder “may conclude that a prison official knew of a substantial risk from the very fact that the risk was obvious.” It also said that not warning officials in advance is “not dispositive,” and that officials who “responded reasonably to the risk” are not liable even if the harm happened. Farmer also said this about force used on people serving a sentence, citing earlier cases: the claimant must show officials applied force “maliciously and sadistically for the very purpose of causing harm.” For people held before trial, Kingsley uses the objective test in the table instead. Kingsley decided excessive force only; for medical and safety claims by people held before trial, read what your own federal court of appeals has held. ## How long does a person in custody have to file? Section 1983 has no deadline of its own. In Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007), the Supreme Court said the length of the limitations period “is that which the State provides for personal-injury torts.” In Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989), it held that “where state law provides multiple statutes of limitations for personal injury actions, courts considering § 1983 claims should borrow the general or residual statute for personal injury actions.” When the clock starts is a separate question, answered by federal law. Wallace says “the accrual date of a § 1983 cause of action is a question of federal law that is not resolved by reference to state law,” and that the claim normally accrues when “the plaintiff can file suit and obtain relief.” Rules for pausing the clock (called tolling) generally come from state law, the Court added. That means you need two facts before anything else: your state’s general personal injury limitations period, and the date the claim accrued. Then remember the grievance process has to be finished before you file, and it takes time. Plan for both. ## How does a person in prison file a Section 1983 lawsuit, step by step? - Write it down now. Dates, times, names, badge numbers, what was said, who saw it, and every medical visit. Memories fade and records go missing. - File the grievance on time. Get the grievance policy or handbook, find the deadline, and file on the right form. Keep a copy of everything. - Appeal every level. Take every appeal the system offers, each on time, until there is a final answer. That is what § 1997e(a) and Woodford require. - Find your deadline. Look up your state’s general personal injury limitations period and work out when the claim accrued, as Wallace and Owens describe. - Name the right defendants. The individual officers or staff who did it, by name, and anyone who set the policy behind it. The Section 1983 guide explains individual and official capacity. - Write the complaint as facts. Who did what, when, and why it meets the standard for your claim (Estelle, Farmer or Kingsley). Say how you exhausted. Describe physical injury where there was one. - File it as the court requires. Use your district court’s forms and local rules. Filing the complaint stays your job. ## What can the software prepare for a prisoner civil rights case? You or a family member can write the complaint, and this page is meant to help. If you want help with the paperwork, {{BRAND}} is AI litigation software that prepares a Section 1983 civil rights complaint at your direction. You supply the facts, the grievance papers, and the people involved. The software builds the complaint to the federal rules and your district’s local rules, and it researches the case law that binds your court, starting with the Supreme Court and your circuit. It looks for the cases that cut against you as hard as the ones that help, including on exhaustion and on the physical injury rule, and shows them with their sources. For each case it shows the cases that cite it and the cases it cites, so you can see how it has been treated. Every citation is checked against the reported decision before it goes in. It is research output from software, not advice about your case. What stays your job: signing the complaint and filing it with the court. The software does not file anything. Section 1983 civil rights complaintSee prices in the catalog· every citation checked · 3 checkpoints, you approve twice {{BRAND}} is not a law firm. It does not represent you, does not appear in court, and does not file anything for you. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one can promise a result. ## More questions about prisoner civil rights suits Can an inmate sue a jail or prison guard? Yes. Section 1983 reaches people acting for a state or local government, which includes state prison and county jail staff. The Prison Litigation Reform Act adds rules for people in custody, starting with finishing the grievance process before filing. Do I have to finish the grievance process before I file? For a lawsuit about prison conditions, yes. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a) bars the suit until available administrative remedies are exhausted, and Woodford v. Ngo held that exhaustion must be proper, meaning on time and following the facility’s procedural rules. What if staff would not give me a grievance form or threatened me? Ross v. Blake said a remedy is not available when administrators thwart its use through machination, misrepresentation, or intimidation, or when the process is a dead end or too confusing for an ordinary prisoner to use. Write down every fact and keep every paper, because you will have to show it. Can I sue for emotional distress in prison? 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e) bars a federal civil action by a prisoner for mental or emotional injury suffered in custody without a prior showing of physical injury or the commission of a sexual act. Can I sue for bad medical care in prison? Only if it was deliberate indifference to a serious medical need, under Estelle v. Gamble. Negligence or a disagreement over treatment is not enough; the Court said medical malpractice does not become a constitutional violation merely because the victim is a prisoner. Why did the judge review my complaint before anyone answered it? 28 U.S.C. § 1915A requires the court to screen a prisoner’s complaint against government officers and to dismiss claims that are frivolous, malicious, fail to state a claim, or seek money from an immune defendant. Do the prisoner rules apply in a county jail before trial? Yes. The definition of prisoner in 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(h) includes a person detained who is accused of a crime, and Kingsley v. Hendrickson said the Act applies to both pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners. How long do I have to file? It depends on your state. Federal courts borrow the state’s general personal injury limitations period, as Wallace v. Kato and Owens v. Okure explain, and federal law decides when the claim accrued. Can a family member file the case for me? A family member can help gather papers and read the rules. The case is yours, and you sign it. The software prepares the complaint at your direction; filing stays with you. ## Official resources on prisoner civil rights suits Everything below is free and comes from the source. ### Statutes on prisoner civil rights suits - 42 U.S.C. § 1983Cornell LII, the full statutory text - 42 U.S.C. § 1997eSuits by prisoners: exhaustion, dismissal, physical injury - 28 U.S.C. § 1915AScreening of prisoner complaints ### Prisoner complaint forms and federal rules - Pro Se 14 complaint formComplaint for Violation of Civil Rights (Prisoner), free - Current federal rulesOfficial text of the federal rules ### Finding prisoner civil rights case law free - CourtListenerNon-profit opinion search and docket archive - Justia U.S. Supreme Court CenterEvery Supreme Court decision ## Statutes and cases cited on this page 42 U.S.C. § 1983 · 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), (c), (e), (h) · 28 U.S.C. § 1915A Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976) · Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235 (1989) · Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) · Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81 (2006) · Wallace v. Kato, 549 U.S. 384 (2007) · Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015) · Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016) ## Guides and pages related to prisoner civil rights suits What is a Section 1983 lawsuit? · What is post-conviction relief? · How do I file a motion in court? · How do I petition the U.S. Supreme Court? Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You remain the filer. {{BRAND}} is AI litigation software. It prepares court papers at your direction from the rules of your court and the case law it finds, including the law against you. It does not represent you and makes no promise or prediction about any result. You review, sign and file the papers yourself, and you are responsible for what you file.