Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

If you want to file a claim in Federal Court but don't know how to do it, you've come to the right place. Anyone can file a federal lawsuit by following these simple guidelines.

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Steps

1. 1 Find out if your case falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. If you have a claim based on state law and you file it in Federal Court, the court will take the matter to the state court, so you should make sure that your complaint falls within the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. In order to sue someone in a Federal Court, the Federal Court must have jurisdiction over the case and / or over either party to the lawsuit. The Federal Court has jurisdiction over the following cases:
   • federal cases involving bankruptcy, civil rights, interstate commerce, and federal criminal offenses
   • claims of civil servants and agencies acting as legal entities
   • claims relating to constitutional issues, for example, the constitutionality of law
   • litigation between parties living in different states if the potential damage exceeds the amount of $ 75,000
2. 2 Find out who is the defendant in your claim. The exact names of the defendants are extremely important in order to initiate a case. You may need to consult with a lawyer to decide who to bring a case against. The following aspects should be considered:
   • Who is responsible for injury or damage to you? Was this due to negligence, or did someone intentionally injure or damage you?
   • Did the responsible party act on behalf of the employer or agent? For example, if an employee of the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) makes a decision that you disagree with, you should file a claim with SSA, not the employee who made the decision.
   • Is there an insurance company involved? If the party responsible for your injury or damage is insured but their insurance company has refused to acknowledge your claim, you should list both the party responsible and its insurance company as respondents.
   • Who has the money assigned to you as compensation? By writing a statement against someone who has no money, you risk that the defendant may be recognized as “a person against whom it is impossible to enforce a court decision due to lack of property,” and you will never be able to receive your money.
3. 3 Decide what claims you have against each defendant. Once you have identified who is responsible for your injury or damage, you should determine what legal claims or “grounds for action” you have against each defendant. To do this, you should:
   • Review the Minnesota District Court List of Claims. There you will find examples of some of the grounds for a claim.
   • Browse the Federal Free Legal Aid Lawyer's Guide to Practice for specific reasons to sue. Look for the elements you need to initiate a case. Elements are the conditions that are required to initiate a case. If the facts in your case match all the elements, you have every reason to make a claim.
   • If you believe your civil rights have been violated, visit the Find Law’s Civil Rights Laws page to view the laws governing civil relations. Carefully read the law that may apply to find out if it applies to the facts of your case.
   • If you still haven't found the cause of a claim or the elements needed to bring a case, search using your favorite search engine. Use quotation marks and connecting words such as ‘and’ and ‘or’ to get specific results. For example, enter "list of federal grounds for filing a claim and employment" in the search box instead of "federal grounds for filing a claim for employment."
4. 4 Make sure the statute of limitations has not passed yet. A statute of limitations is a limited period of time during which a person can file a complaint. Check the status or case law on which your right to sue is based for limitation periods. If the statute of limitations has already passed, you may no longer be able to file a claim. There are several rules that exclude statutes of limitation, so if one or all of your claims have passed the statute of limitations, you can talk to a lawyer to see if any of these exceptions might apply in your particular case.
5. 5 Find the shapes you want. There are several reputable electronic resources where you can find free forms for use in Federal Courts. They include:
   • US judicial forms by category. US courts provide many free forms for use in federal courts in any state. A complete set of bankruptcy forms can also be found here.
   • US Federal Court Forms. The US Federal Court of Justice offers several free federal forms on its website.
   • Your state's Federal Court website. Your state's federal district court can provide you with free forms to use. To find your state's Federal Court (s) on the Internet, you can use this list of Federal District Courts provided by FindLaw.
6. 6 Fill out your forms. Type or write your answers neatly by hand in blue or black ink, trying to answer as many questions as possible. If the forms contain instructions, please read them completely before filling out.
7. 7 Submit your forms to court. The procedure for filing complaints with the US Federal District Courts varies by state and county. Each court has its own local procedure. But the main process consists of filing documents, as well as a certain number of copies of each form and filing fee, with the clerk of the court in which you want to file a claim. You must arrive early and ask how many copies of each of the forms should be presented to the court and what the filing fee is. You can also ask about accepted payment methods, as many courts do not accept payment or credit cards or personal checks from applicants.
8. 8 Notify respondents. Once you have filed your claim with a court and your case has been approved and assigned a number, you will need to provide each defendant with copies of all forms along with the subpoena. Most courts will send these documents to the defendants for you, but others may return the subpoenas signed and sealed to you so that you can notify the defendants. If the court has sent you a subpoena, you have one hundred and twenty days (120) to give each defendant a copy of your claim and other court papers and pleadings. You can notify the respondent in any of three main ways:
   • Use the services of the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office provides the highest level of service of court documents.It's cheap, efficient, and the Sheriff's Office can fill out an affidavit for you.
   • Hire a bailiff. The court messengers will personally deliver the summons to the defendants and fill out an affidavit of service for you in court, or give you one copy to fill out, for a small fee. Usually bailiff services cost about $ 50-250 for each defendant.
   • Ask a friend or family member to do this for you. Your friend or family member must be over eighteen years of age (18) and not participate in the proceedings as a party or as a witness. After notifying the defendant (s), your friend or family member must fill out an affidavit of service and take it to court.

Tips

• Check the website for your state's Federal Court if you need more help filing a federal lawsuit. To find your state's Federal Court (s) on the Internet, you can use this list of Federal District Courts provided by FindLaw.
• For more guidance and additional help in filing a federal lawsuit for copyright or trademark infringement, see Tabber's Temptations - instructions based on the experience of a company that won a copyright lawsuit without hiring a lawyer.

Warnings

• Before filing a claim against a government agency, a party must go through all the necessary administrative procedures to resolve disputes. For example, when applying for disability benefits, a party must appeal the negative decision to the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) twice before he or she can appeal to the Federal Courts.