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Pleadings Search Tips

  1. This site contains over 2000 pleadings, that are associated with one or more of the 20 treatises. Subscribers to a particular treatise can search across all 2000 pleadings, but can only download (typically in Word) pleadings associated with their subscription. Subscribers to Consumer Law Pleadings or to the complete 20 treatise set have access to all 2000 pleadings.
  2. There are a number of search options and filters, and results from a search will be displayed below the Search button. To use the whole page to review search results, click on the triangle next to Filter Results.
  3. Begin a search by selecting “all treatises” or “my subscribed treatises.”
  4. Use of the search box at the top “Pleadings that contain these terms” is optional and will narrow your search significantly, if used in combination with filters—in some cases too narrowly. Click here to see tips on standard search, which will apply to this search box.
  5. You may select all three filters: by type, subject, and legal claim, meaning that results only will show pleadings that meet all three criteria. Depending on the search, a preferred method may be to select items from only one or two of these filters.
  6. You may select more than one choice from each of the filters, and the choices will display at the top of the filter drop down, where you can also delete them. For example, checking the boxes for Credit Cards and Credit Discrimination will find pleadings that relate either to credit cards or to credit discrimination.
  7. Filter by Pleading Type is unique in that it offers three categories of filters in the same drop down box. You can select general types of pleadings, class action pleading types, and/or bankruptcy pleading types. You may select more than one category from each of these three different types. For example, you can select “Complaint” and “TRO, injunction” from “General,” and “Class Complaint” and “Preliminary Injunction” from “Class” and the site will search for pleadings meeting any one of these four criteria.
  8. If you subscribe to a treatise associated with a pleading, you may click on the document name in the results list and download the pleading document, typically in Word. If you instead click on the name of the associated book, a list of related pleadings will be displayed, allowing one to download either the pleading found on the results list or any of the related pleadings.