In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons that the filing party or parties believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party or parties against whom the claim is brought that entitles the plaintiff(s) to a remedy. For example, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that govern civil litigation in United States courts provide that a civil action is commenced with the filing or service of a pleading called a complaint. Civil court rules in states that have incorporated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure use the same term for the same pleading.
In law, a judgment, also spelled judgement, is a decision of a court regarding the rights and liabilities of parties in a legal action or proceeding. Judgments also generally provide the court's explanation of why it has chosen to make a particular court order.
A strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP), SLAPP suit, or intimidation lawsuit is intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.
Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 542 U.S. 1 (2004), was a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawsuit, originally filed as Newdow v. United States Congress, Elk Grove Unified School District, et al. in 2000, led to a 2002 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are an endorsement of religion and therefore violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The words had been added by a 1954 act of Congress that changed the phrase "one nation indivisible" into "one nation under God, indivisible". After an initial decision striking the congressionally added "under God", the superseding opinion on denial of rehearing en banc was more limited, holding that compelled recitation of the language by school teachers to students was invalid.
A declaratory judgment, also called a declaration, is the legal determination of a court that resolves legal uncertainty for the litigants. It is a form of legally binding preventive by which a party involved in an actual or possible legal matter can ask a court to conclusively rule on and affirm the rights, duties, or obligations of one or more parties in a civil dispute. The declaratory judgment is generally considered a statutory remedy and not an equitable remedy in the United States, and is thus not subject to equitable requirements, though there are analogies that can be found in the remedies granted by courts of equity. A declaratory judgment does not by itself order any action by a party, or imply damages or an injunction, although it may be accompanied by one or more other remedies.
Goldwater v. Carter, 444 U.S. 996 (1979), was a United States Supreme Court case which was the result of a lawsuit filed by Senator Barry Goldwater and other members of the United States Congress challenging the right of President Jimmy Carter to unilaterally nullify the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, which the United States had signed with the Republic of China, so that relations could instead be established with the People's Republic of China. Goldwater and his co-filers claimed that the President required Senate approval to take such an action, under Article II, Section II of the U.S. Constitution, and that, by not doing so, President Carter had acted beyond the powers of his office.
CityNorth is a planned urban mixed-use development in the Northeast Valley of Phoenix, Arizona, US; featuring retail, restaurant, residential, hotel, office, cultural, civic and entertainment uses in a pedestrian-friendly environment. At completion, CityNorth will comprise more than 5,500,000 square feet of development on 144 acres. Envisioned by Thomas J. Klutznick as the urban core of the Northeast Valley of Phoenix and the commercial core for the master-planned community of Desert Ridge, CityNorth is sited near the intersection of two major freeways—Loop 101 and State Route 51, making it accessible from throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. The development will open in phases starting with Phase One, High Street, which opened in November 2008.
Susan Marie Ritchie Bolton is a Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
Gunn v. University Committee to End the War in Viet Nam, 399 U.S. 383 (1970), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court that since the District Court has issued neither an injunction nor an order granting or denying one, Supreme Court has no jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1253, which provides for review of orders granting or denying interlocutory or permanent injunctions.
In the case of Sony BMG Music Entertainment et al. v. Tenenbaum, record label Sony BMG, along with Warner Bros. Records, Atlantic Records, Arista Records, and UMG Recordings, accused Joel Tenenbaum of illegally downloading and sharing files in violation of U.S. copyright law. It was only the second file-sharing case to go to verdict in the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) anti-downloading litigation campaign. After the judge entered a finding of liability, a jury assessed damages of $675,000, which the judge reduced to $67,500 on constitutional grounds, rather than through remittitur.
In 2008, Cindy Vong, a Gilbert, AZ salon owner, was forced to shut down her spa fish pedicure business after the Arizona Board of Cosmetology determined the practice was unsanitary. Garra rufa fish are tiny carp that nibble and remove dead skin from humans. Customers place their feet into the fish tank and the Garra rufa fish remove the calloused skin. The practice was incredibly popular in Asia, but it was less common across the United States. But officials pointed to the problems of spreading bacteria as evidence of its unsanitary nature. This is unlikely, as the fish are incapable of breaking a customer's skin and each customer's feet were checked for sores prior to the treatment. None of Vong's customers ever filed a complaint with her or to a state agency.
Arizona Free Enterprise Club's Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, 564 U.S. 721 (2011), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States.
According to the Arizona state Constitution, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has the full power to, "prescribe just and reasonable classifications to be used and just and reasonable rates and charges to be made and collected, by public service corporations within the state for service rendered therein, and make reasonable rules, regulations, and orders, by which such corporations shall be governed in the transaction of business within the state…" In a controversial move, the ACC adopted a new policy known as the Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST). REST required public utilities in Arizona to run a certain amount of their power from renewable energy sources. The move brought into question whether the ACC had constitutional authority to impose such a requirement on utilities. The Goldwater Institute filed suit arguing that the ACC had expanded its powers beyond its constitutional jurisdiction. According to the director of the Goldwater Institute Scharf-Norton Center For Constitutional Litigation, Clint Bolick, "The rules are an unconstitutional power grab by an agency that is rapidly becoming Arizona's fourth branch of government." The Arizona Public Service (APS) utility estimated that for the fiscal year of 2008, the cost of the new renewable energy standards would cost $48.2 million. By 2012, the APS estimated the costs would reach $347 million. But Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, issued an opinion saying that they were within their constitutional jurisdiction to set a renewable energy standard.
Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387 (2012), was a United States Supreme Court case involving Arizona's SB 1070, a state law intended to increase the powers of local law enforcement that wished to enforce federal immigration laws. The issue is whether the law usurps the federal government's authority to regulate immigration laws and enforcement. The Court ruled that sections 3, 5(C), and 6 of S. B. 1070 were preempted by federal law but left other parts of the law intact, including a provision that allowed law enforcement to investigate a person's immigration status.
Coons v. Geithner is a lawsuit filed on August 12, 2010, by the Goldwater Institute as a constitutional challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act legislation passed in March 2010. The lawsuit was dismissed on December 19, 2012.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), there have been numerous actions in federal courts to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation. They include challenges by states against the ACA, reactions from legal experts with respect to its constitutionality, several federal court rulings on the ACA's constitutionality, the final ruling on the constitutionality of the legislation by the U.S. Supreme Court in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, and notable subsequent lawsuits challenging the ACA. The Supreme Court upheld ACA for a third time in a June 2021 decision.
Blumenthal v. Trump, 949 F.3d 14, was a U.S. constitutional law and federal civil procedure lawsuit heard by Circuit Judges Henderson, Tatel, and Griffith, of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case was on appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan granted in part and denied in part the President's motion to dismiss for lack of standing, denied the President's motion to dismiss for failure to state claim, and certified interlocutory appeal. On February 7, 2020, in a per curiam decision, the court of appeals held that individual members of Congress lacked standing to bring action against the President where they sought declaratory and injunctive relief for alleged violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. The court, finding in favor of President Trump, reversed and remanded the lower court's holding that the Members had standing to sue, with instructions to the district court to dismiss the complaint. The dismissal subsequently rendered the other issue on appeal, the holding that the Members had a cause of action and stated a claim, vacated as moot.
Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court first introduced the justification for qualified immunity for police officers from being sued for civil rights violations under Section 1983, by arguing that "[a] policeman's lot is not so unhappy that he must choose between being charged with dereliction of duty if he does not arrest when he had probable cause, and being mulcted in damages if he does."
Before Election Day of the 2020 United States presidential election, lawsuits related to the voting process were filed in various states. Many of these lawsuits were related to measures taken by state legislatures and election officials in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congress Elementary School District is a K-8 school district headquartered in Congress, Arizona. It operates Congress Elementary School.
