Quiz on Rule 11

  1. Plaintiff drafts and files a complaint with the court. After being served, defendant realizes that plaintiff forgot to sign the complaint.  Defendant moves for an immediate dismissal.  True or False: The Court may dismiss the complaint.
  1. Penny has a “gut feeling” that Donald might have borrowed Penny’s Furrari automobile without authorization and crashed it. Based on this feeling, Penny sues Donald in tort seeking either return of her vehicle or damages for its loss.  True or False: Penny has violated Rule 11.
  1. Paul was hit by a car. Based on a reasonable pre-filing investigation, Paul believes that David was the driver and sues David.  After discovery, Paul realizes that the driver was Debbie.  However, David has “deeper pockets” than Debbie, so Paul does not withdraw the complaint or substitute Debbie as the defendant.  Paul later tells the judge in open court, “I stick to my complaint as filed.”  True or False: Paul violated Rule 11, even though he conducted a reasonable pre-filing investigation.
  1. Plaintiff sues defendant for negligence. After only ten minutes of deliberating, the jury finds unanimously that the defendant was not negligent.  True or False: The plaintiff violated Rule 11.
  1. Peter knows that a state statute expressly prohibits lawsuits for “willful failure to invite to a birthday party” but sues Denise anyway for failing to invite Peter to Denise’s birthday party. He does so pro se, without a lawyer.  The material allegations of Peter’s complaint say that “On purpose, Denise didn’t invite me to her birthday party, giving me the right to sue her for damages for willful failure to invite under state law.”  True or False: Peter has violated Rule 11.
  1. Luci Rabbit sues Shelly Turtle, asserting claims for federal and common law copyright infringement of a book. Although a lawyer, Luci lacks expertise in copyright, does not bother to do research, and does not consult a copyright lawyer.  As a result, she does not realize that common law copyright over books was abolished by the 1976 Copyright Act.  She assumed that such claims were permissible because she based her complaint on a form from a book published in 1966.  Assume that Luci has violated Rule 11(b).  True or False: Rule 11 requires that a lawyer violating Rule 11(b) be sanctioned.
  1. Same facts as previous question. True or False: The Court may punish Luci by awarding the defendant three times the cost of defending the lawsuit.
  1. Same facts as previous question, but assume that Luci is not a lawyer and files the complaint pro se. True or False: the court may issue monetary sanctions against Luci.
  1. Paul sues David for willful failure to invite even though Paul knows that David invited him to his birthday party. David files a motion for immediate sanctions under Rule 11.  True or False: The Court may issue sanctions against Paul.
  1. During litigation, David issues frivolous and voluminous discovery requests against Paul, with the intent of harassing Paul, delaying the lawsuit, and forcing Paul to settle the lawsuit. True or False: David has violated Rule 11.

Posted Jan. 21, 2015