A discussion recently transpired on the Solosez listserve about how attorneys organize their physical files, which led to a spinoff discussion about what are "pleadings" as that term is used in the legal profession. As to the former, there are as many unique ways of maintaining files as their are attorneys. Except for firms who have established methods and rules about such matters, which are then followed lock and step by the attorneys (or shall I say, more accurately, staff), attorneys tend to file how they think. I have seen attorneys use files for court filings and discovery all in one folder, whereas I have seen others separate the two types of documents into separate folders. Personally, I separate the two types of documents whenever I keep hard files, but I am changing more and more to a paperless office. I have a small office suite (six rooms) in downtown Houston, but I have over 5,000 files. There's no way I could handle the paperload associated with such a large docket, so I have managed to make most of my files paperless.
Whether my files are paperless or hard paper, I call all documents filed with the courts "pleadings" for purposes of filing. When I questioned the list as to whether or not my fellow attorneys called a "notice of hearing" a pleading, I started a discussion about what exactly is a pleading under the rules of civil procedure and why it would be wrong to loosely use the term "pleading." In order to know exactly what we were talking about, I had to look up the meaning of "pleading" in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 45 addresses "pleadings" as follows:
"SECTION 4. PLEADING
A. General
RULE 45. DEFINITION AND SYSTEM
Pleadings in the district and county courts shall
(a) be by petition and answer;
(b) consist of a statement in plain and concise language of the plaintiff's cause of action or the defendant's grounds of defense. That an allegation be evidentiary or be of legal conclusion shall not be grounds for objection when fair notice to the opponent is given by the allegations as a whole;
(c) contain any other matter which may be required by any law or rule authorizing or regulating any particular action or defense;
(d) be in writing, on paper measuring approximately 8 ½ inches by 11 inches, and signed by the party or his attorney, and either the signed original together with any verification or a copy of said original and copy of any such verification shall be filed with the court. The use of recycled paper is strongly encouraged.
When a copy of the signed original is tendered for filing, the party or his attorney filing such copy
is required to maintain the signed original for inspection by the court or any party incident to the suit,
should a question be raised as to its authenticity.
All pleadings shall be construed so as to do substantial justice."
One of the sub-discussions on this issue on the List revolved around use of the term "pleading" around other attorneys and especially in open court. From Rule 45, we see that a "pleading" is not simply everything filed with the court, but rather only petition or answer. So, the argument is that a judge or attorney would think less and possibly condemn any attorney who used "pleading" to refer to anything but a petition or answer. My response was as follows:
"Now, I must also say that I have NEVER seen a judge correct a lawyer about the use of the term. I attribute that not to either the lawyer or judge being ignorant, but to the fact that a dispute RARELY arises where the definition of pleading is the crux of the issue. We have a sanction rule in the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure for attorneys or parties signing or filing false pleadings or pleadings otherwise meant to harass, etc. That Rule states the prohibition applies to pleadings, pleas, motions, applications, etc., so the fact that someone signed a false motion and called it a pleading doesn't matter when that Rule is applied, because the outcome is the same. Granted, I have not re-read the rules of civil procedure to determine where the distinction between a pleading and some other document makes a difference, but off the top of my head, I am thinking that maybe it would matter when fighting about judicial admissions...maybe."
My point is this, whenever attorneys use the word "pleading" in their filing system, we shouldn't jump up to correct the attorney. Furthermore, when we use the term "pleading" in open court to refer to anything filed in court, we are not embarrassing ourselves. I figure that attorneys will know when the use of the term is important in proper context and will act accordingly.
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