Civil Rights Complaint Page 2
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12INTRODUCTION
This information packet is designed to help you file a civil rights complaint in federal court
without the help of a trained and licensed attorney. In a civil rights complaint, you are alleging that
your constitutional rights or privileges or immunities have been violated. The federal law under
which a civil rights claim arises is 42 U.S.C. sections 1983 and 1985. (U.S.C. stands for "United
States Code," which is a collection of all the federal laws in the country. The law under which a civil
rights action is brought is located in sections 1983 and 1985 of title 42 of the United States Code.)
When you represent yourself in a lawsuit you are known as a pro se litigant, or a person who is
proceeding pro se.
In order to start a lawsuit based on a claim of violation of your civil rights, you must prepare
and file with the court what is known as a complaint. This packet of instructions is designed to
help you prepare a civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 and 1985. For information
on how to actually file the complaint with the court after you have prepared it and how to proceed
in your lawsuit, you should obtain and read the Pro Se Litigant Guide, which is available at the
clerk's office of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, located in suite 150 of the Frank E.
Moss U.S. Courthouse, 350 South Main in Salt Lake City, Utah, 84101.
A sample complaint form is included in this packet to help you to prepare your complaint.
Your complaint must be typewritten or legibly handwritten. All questions must be answered clearly
in the correct space on the form. If you need extra space to answer a question, you may use
additional pages of 8.5" x 11" size paper. The additional page(s) must be legible, and must indicate
which question you are answering. If you are suing more than one person, you should state clearly
which defendant you accuse of each act.
PREPARING THE COMPLAINT
1.
To assist a party appearing pro se in filing a civil rights complaint, the office of the clerk has
prepared a complaint form, a copy of which is attached to this information packet. The instructions
in this section correspond by name to the sections in the sample complaint form.
2.
If you need more space than the sample complaint form provides to record details, you should
use additional sheets the same size as the complaint.
A.
Caption and Heading: Before your case can be filed with the clerk's office, the first
page of your complaint must have your name, address and telephone number at the top of the
complaint as part of the heading. This is referred to as the case caption and heading. The case
caption also must indicate the Division of the District of Utah in which the case originates.
Determining this is relatively easy.
Northern Division: If the defendant(s) reside in, or if the action on which the lawsuit is based
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