Legal Question in Discrimination Law in Oregon
1983 Civil Rights Complaint
I am a non-lawyer with very little computer experience. With dumb luck I was
able to find your e-mail address while searching for Pro-se info.
I have filed a 1983 Civil Rights suit in Federal Dist. Court of Oregon. I was
told that a Memorandum of Law should not be filed with the complaint even
though it was ready to go. True or False?
When the suit is accepted I will need to file an Interrogatory for discovery.
My question is: Is there a boiler plate form available and/or what is the
normal cost of preparing one?
Any help or advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: 1983 Civil Rights Complaint
Send me your complaint and your memorandum of law, if you'd like someone to read it over.
You should probably somewhere tell me the story, if the complaint doesn't make it clear.
E-mail them to [email protected] or fax to (617) 527-0050.
1) Memorandum of Law should not be filed with the complaint, generally.
a) You may as well wait for the "answer" or "answer and counterclaims"
to be filed by the other side. b) Memos usually are in support of a
particular motion, not to brief the judge on the law under which you bring
your complaint. Typical motions are motions for summary judgment (which
probably would require you to have filed an affidavit as well.
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure aren't all that complicated.
Boilerplate is available interrogatories and other discovery requests,
but not strictly required; they're useful, though.
How much money do discovery requests cost? Usually a few hundred
dollars for the lawyer's time, sometimes less for simpler cases and
sometimes much more, for example in a complex medical malpractice case.
Stuart Williams,
Law Offices of Stuart J. Williams,
21 Walter St.,
Newton, MA 02459-2509