Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure
Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure
These are those laid down rules promulgated for the main purpose of guiding and governing the way civil proceedings are brought and determined in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Courts. They are the body of rules that are enacted to be imbibed by the general masses will filing an application or civil suits in the court. The law is that without strict adherence to the provisions of the rules, your applications or suit may be struck out from the docket of the court.
The Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure is made up of several rules and rule 1 overtly provided for the scope of the rules. It stated that it shall govern civil procedures in a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court or of the Appeals Court and other departments of the trial court.
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The rules also provided that a civil action can be commenced in the court through mailing and paying of the entry fee prescribed by Law. Otherwise, the complaint can also be filed through the Court’s electronic filing system and this should be accompanied by electronic payment of the entry fee under the Massachusetts Rules of Electronic Filing.
The rules said that motions which are not meant to be heard ex parte are to be served not later than 7 days before the time specified for the hearing.
The rules to accommodate the recent development in society has added three more days to the days that the parties are meant to reply in application or suit that they were served electronically.
The rules also provided for pleadings. Pleadings comprise the complaint filed by the party that is aggrieved by the tortious act of another and that other person shall also expect a court process called Answer.
The Defendant can also decide to file a counterclaim. A counterclaim is the court process that can be filed by the Defendant while filing his answer to his claim.
Cross-Claim: This is the process that can be filed by the Plaintiff who still has some allegations against the Defendant while responding to his Counterclaim.
Answer Cross-Claim: This Court process is meant to be filed by a Defendant who has an answer to the claim of the plaintiff as contained in the Cross-Claim.
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There is also a third-party complaint: There is also a time that a third who was not part of the original complaint can decide to join by filing a third-party complaint.
A third-party answer: This can be filed when the third party that wants to join has filed the third-party proceeding.
It was also explicitly recorded in the provisions of the rules that all applications are meant to be filed through motion.
Motion is a written application filed in the court praying to the court for certain reliefs. However, it is also written that if the application is to be made during the trial that it can be filed by writing the court.
The demurrer is abolished by the rules.
The demurrer is an application objecting to the suit of the plaintiff and which application is seeking that the suit should be struck out based on some factual logic.
The rules permit trial by jury. Trial by jury is a proceeding whereby the jury is allowed to decide on facts presented before them. However, under the rules, it is contained that a party has to demand a trial by jury.
The Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure also provided for the dismissal of the action under Rule 41. It stated that action can either be dismissed voluntarily or involuntarily. Under voluntary, it can either be by the plaintiff without the order of the court or it can be by the order of the court.
You can also read more about this article by accessing this official website: https://www.mass.gov/law-library/massachusetts-rules-of-civil-procedure
While under involuntary dismissal, it can either be by Court’s Motion or by the motion of the Defendant.
