 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Fowler v. Criticare Home Health Services8/4/2000
-blowing.
Fowler is correct that K.S.A. 1999 Supp. 60-208 demands little in the way of specificity in Kansas pleadings:
"(a) Claims for relief. A pleading which sets forth a claim for relief, whether an original claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, shall contain: (1) A short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief. . . .
"(e) Pleading to be concise and direct; consistency. (1)
Each averment of a pleading shall be simple, concise, and direct. No technical forms of pleading or motions are required.
(2) A party may set forth two or more statements of a claim or defense alternately or hypothetically, either in one count or defense or in separate counts or defenses. . . . A party may also state as many separate claims or defenses as the party has regardless of consistency and whether based on legal or on equitable grounds or on both. . . .
"(f) Construction of pleadings. All pleadings shall be so construed as to do substantial justice."
In addition, under 60-208, liberal construction of pleadings is the rule. This point is emphasized by Judge Spencer A. Gard and Professor Robert C. Casad:
"Now that discovery in its broadest scope is available to all parties, the need for technical pleading vanishes from the picture. The parties normally have no great need for anything more than a bare-bones pleading which outlines the nature of the claim. The technical distinctions between the allegation of conclusions and ultimate facts, or with the distinction between pleading of ultimate facts and evidence that plagued lawyers under the Code pleading regime, are no longer a factor in state practice. Nor are we any longer greatly concerned with whether every allegation, considered necessary at common law, is pleaded or not, so long as the statement of the claim fairly apprises us of its substance. Discovery will easily fill the gaps, and more effectively.
"Under the Kansas Code of Civil Procedure, the pleading of a precise cause of action is not required. Its real function is to give notice and to that end liberal construction is indicated." 1 Gard and Casad, Kansas C. Civ. Proc. 3d Annot. ยง 60-208, Art. 2-40 (1997).
The Supreme Court's decision in Oller v. Kincheloe's, Inc., 235 Kan. 440, 681 P.2d 630 (1984), convincingly demonstrates the principles described by Gard and Casad. Plaintiff Melvin A. Oller filed a claim regarding an allegedly defective combine he bought from Kincheloe's, Inc. (Kincheloe's). The trial court granted summary judgment for Kincheloe's on the ground that Oller's petition pleaded only an express warranty claim, preventing him from proceeding on breach of implied warranty and negligence theories.
The Supreme Court reversed, finding references in Oller's petition to the combine's defects and lack of merchantability, and to alleged negligence in the defendant's repair of it. 235 Kan. at 450. In the words of the court: "It is not necessary to spell out a legal theory of relief so long as an opponent is apprised of the facts that entitle plaintiff to relief." 235 Kan. at 447; see also In re Estate of Moe, 11 Kan. App. 2d 244, 249-50, 719 P.2d 7, rev'd on other grounds, 240 Kan. 242, 729 P.2d 447 (1986) (petition gave notice of facts giving rise to an action based on particular theory; pleading of precise cause of action not required; pleadings given liberal construction).
We are satisfied that Fowler sufficiently pleaded a cause of action for wrongful termination for whistle-blowing under 60-208 and the notice pleading policy it codifies. His petition set forth facts that could give rise to a ret
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kansas Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|