A. In General
While the complaint may not be the first formal
document served by a claimant in a police misconduct case
against a state, municipality, public or quasi-public
corporation, it is the most important. The complaint
provides the grid upon which the case will proceed. It
outlines the issues that are the meat of the action, and an illdrafted
complaint can unduly restrict the plaintiff’s
presentation and be subject to a motion to dismiss for
insufficiency. Consequently, great care should be taken in
constructing this document. The admonishment in Chapter
6 concerning drafting of the notices of claim and
distinguishing between the separate causes of action (see
also Chapter 2 for listing of possible causes of action)
applies with equal force to the drafting of the complaint.
While it is the practice in both the state and federal
courts to liberally construe pleadings, there seems to be, at
times, a different standard for actions for false
imprisonment, malicious prosecution and police
misconduct. No other explanation can be offered for this
deviation except the unfavorable light in which these types
of civil rights cases have, in the past, been held in the eyes
of some members of the judiciary.