or is a
Latin phrase meaning "according to the harm" or "appropriate to the harm". It is used in
tort law
A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with crime ...
as a measure of
damage inflicted, and implying a
remedy, if one exists, ought to correspond specifically and only to the damage suffered. It is also used in pleading, as the statement of the plaintiff's money loss or damages claimed.
[See Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(3).] An clause is also sometimes called a "prayer for relief."
Several
U.S. states prohibit plaintiffs from demanding a specific amount of money in the section of a
complaint
In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...
initiating a
civil action for
personal injury or
wrongful death.
This is to prevent unethical attorneys from gaining undue publicity for their cases (and trampling upon defendants'
right to a fair trial
A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...
) by demanding outrageous amounts that they cannot possibly prove at trial.
This is why such complaints simply demand amounts "in excess of $
(where X is the minimum
amount in controversy
Amount in controversy (sometimes called jurisdictional amount) is a term used in civil procedure to denote the amount at stake in a lawsuit, in particular in connection with a requirement that persons seeking to bring a lawsuit in a particular cou ...
necessary to get into the trial court of general jurisdiction),
"pecuniary loss", or "monetary damages in an amount according to proof." Of course, at some point the defendant needs to get some idea of what amount of money the plaintiff actually wants, so the defendant can usually serve interrogatories directed to that issue or a formal request for a statement of damages as part of the
discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
process.
See also
* ''
Damnum absque injuria''
References
Latin legal terminology
Latin words and phrases
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