This morning while making breakfast, I had a local news station on.
Somewhere between making the coffee and my english muffin, I heard a newscaster say that “so and so is suing so and so for fifteen thousand dollars.”
I thought to myself “probably not.”
I hear this several times a year on the news, so I figure I’ll use this space to clear things up.
In some states, I’ve seen pleadings that read and the Plaintiff demands $1,456,103.27 or some other crazy number.
In Connecticut state court’s that’s not the case. The plaintiff is required to attach a jurisdictional pleading that reads something like this:
The Plaintiff seeks money damages which are within the jurisdiction of the court and the amount of which exclusive of interest and costs is in excess of Fifteen Thousand ($15,000.00) Dollars.
This language has nothing to do with what the Plaintiff is actually seeking in the case. Such language is applicable to cases where the plaintiff is seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.
It’s a small point, but part of the mission of this blog is to inform the public about our legal system.
by Ryan C. McKeen
