Imagine you are a counsel for the defence in the USA. Explain the strategy of the case proceeding to your client.

Stages of Civil Litigation in the USA

To start a civil case pleadingmust be filed with the court, called a …¹, naming the party against whom the case is brought, the …². The person or organization filing the case is called the …³. Most civil cases are prepared and filed by an …⁴ paid for by the plaintiff. The complaint must state a…⁵of action.

Next a …⁶ is issued, inviting defendant to come to court. The summons tells the defendant how many days he has to make appearance and file an …⁷. If he does not, a …⁸ may be entered against him.

Once …⁹ with summons, a defendant must appear and file an answer and …¹⁰ or deny theclaim. Defendant may file a …¹¹ against plaintiff for any other claim, even if totally unrelated to plaintiff’s case (even a tort action countering a contract action). Defendant may file a …¹² against another defendant or a single one of multiple plaintiffs. Defendant can request the court for permission …¹³ a party, who defendant thinks may be affected by the case and whose presence is needed for a full and final determination. Defendant can also file affirmative …¹⁴such as set-off (зарахування вимог).In some cases if defendant has an affirmative defence,
counter-claim, or cross-claim, and does not file it, he loses that …¹⁵ for all time.

Note:when you enumerate the different stages of a procedure, you may use particular phrases to structure the information you are presenting for better comprehension. For example:

First …, then …, next …, after that …, finally … .

The next thing/step is to …, once that’s been done …, before that happens you/we …, the last step will be to…/(…ing) … .

5. Translate articles from the Ukrainian Civil Procedure Code using words and phrases of the active vocabulary instead of the underlined lexical units:

Стаття 127. Надіслання копії

1. Після відкриття провадження у справі суд невідкладно відсилає особам, які беруть участь у справі, копії ухвали про відкриття провадження у справі.

2. Одночасно з копією про відкриття провадження у справі відповідачу надсилається копія позовної заяви з копіями доданих до них документів, а третій особі – копія позовної заяви.

Стаття 130. Попереднє судове засідання

1. Попереднє судове засідання проводиться з метою з’ясування можливості врегулювання спору до судового розгляду або забезпечення правильного та швидкого вирішення справи.

2. Попереднє судове засідання проводиться суддею за участю сторін та інших осіб, які беруть участь у справі.

3. Для врегулювання спору до судового розгляду суд з’ясовує: чи не відмовляється позивач від позову, чи визнає позов відповідач, чи не бажають сторониукласти мирову угоду або передати справу на розгляд третейського суду.

III. PRACTICE AND EXPERIENCE

1. A. Read the text about the complaint form accepted in the USA:

The essential parts of the complaintare: the caption, jurisdictional allegations, body, prayer for relief, and subscription.

a. Caption: the complaint must set forth:
(i) the name of the court;

(ii) the number assigned to the action (stamped by the clerk when the action is filed);

(iii) a designation of the pleading (e.g., "Complaint for Damages"); and

(iv) the names of the parties.

b. Jurisdictional allegations: in federal court, the complaint must contain allegations showing the ground (or grounds) upon which the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal court is invoked. Since federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, a complaint that fails to set forth the jurisdictional grounds must be dismissed unless the ground can be supplied by amendment.

c. Body: the complaint must also contain a statement of the facts upon which recovery is sought. In code pleading states, this requires a "statement of the (ultimate) facts constituting the cause of action"; while under the Federal Rules there must be a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief."

d. Prayer for relief: a complaint must also contain a prayer for relief, i.e., a statement of the relief sought.

e. Subscription: the complaint must be signed by the attorney (or by the party himself, where he is acting as his own counsel).