complaint should be specific but as brief as possible. Please refer to Rules 8(a)(2) and 10(b) of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for the requirements governing the format and content of your amended
complaint. Failure to comply with these requirements may lead to a court order rejecting your amended
complaint until it does comply.
THE COMPLAINT FORM
A. Please add the word “Amended” to the first page of the enclosed form complaint (or, if you do not use the
complaint form, title your pleading “Amended Complaint.” (If you have already filed an amended
complaint, and you are now amending that amended complaint, this one should be called “Second Amended
Complaint.”)
B. Section 1: Caption — This section requires you to list your name as the plaintiff and the names of all of
the defendants. Do not use abbreviations such as "etc." or "et al." Also, note that only those defendants
whose names are listed in this Section (or in the caption if you do not use the official forms) will be
considered by the Court as defendants.
C. Section 2: Statement of Jurisdiction, Venue and Nature of Suit — Federal Court is a court of limited
jurisdiction and thus only certain types of cases may be brought in this Court. Therefore, this section
requires you to identify the basis for your bringing this action in federal court. It also requires you to state
why you have brought it in this particular federal court (why venue is proper in the Western District). You
must also describe the nature of your suit. If you do not use the official forms, your amended complaint
must have a section which contains all of this information.
D. Section 3: Parties to This Action — This section requires you to identify the parties to the lawsuit. (You
should set out in Section 1: Caption only the parties’ names and perhaps their titles (such as Dr. or
Commissioner)). In Section 3: Parties, you must provide each party's name, official position (if relevant)
and address, and if you are seeking service by the U.S. Marshals, you may provide any other information
which may assist in identifying or locating the parties. If you do not use the official forms, your amended
complaint must have a section which identifies and locates the parties in this way.
E. Section 4: Previous Lawsuits — This section requires you to provide detailed, accurate and thorough
information about all previous lawsuits you have filed regarding the same facts involved in this case. If you
cannot provide all of the details requested, you must provide as much information as you can. Deliberate
misrepresentation or omission of information is perjury and is punishable by law.
F. Section 5: Statement of Claim — This section, which is divided into separate sub-sections for each claim,
requires you to tell the Court when each alleged incident occurred, which defendant(s) were involved and
specifically what each of the defendant(s) did to you. You must provide specific facts regarding each claim;
these facts should demonstrate to the Court how your rights were violated and by whom they were violated.
You must give facts only. Please refer again to Rule 8(a)(2) and 10(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil
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