hello good morning good afternoon and good evening depending on the time that you are listening to this video this is attorney chato alivas Quinto and today I'm going to discuss complaint now to make you appreciate the importance of a complaint I would like to discuss it in a holistic way so it is the significance of a complaint the parts of a complaint verification and non-forum shopping certification which are also parts of the complaint so doing monetize the importance of a complaint the complaint is the most important pleading in litigation bucket because it initiates a case which is why it is called an initiatory bleeding moreover it dictates the way a case will proceed because the complaint shows you the following in the title and caption of the complaint you will see judicial region in which the court sits the court which has jurisdiction over the case when you were the cases filed the name of the plaintiff name of the defendant designate either the cause of action or relief thought in the first two or three paragraphs you're going to see the name and address of the plaintiff whether the plaintiff is an individual a partnership or a corporation and the name and address of the defendant and whether the defendant is an individual a partnership or a corporation now why are these important the names and addresses are important because in personal actions the choice of menu depends on the place where the residents of the plaintiff is located or where the resident sense of the defendant is located at the option of the plaintiff now if the case is filed in another place there is improper venue unless the parties have made a valid written stipulation on a different venue prior to the filing of the case this is discussed in a different video regarding venue now in the body of the complaint you will see the allegations of facts through which the plaintiff seeks to establish his or her cause of action the latter part of the body will state the evidence that plaintiff will submit a body will end with a prayer or a statement of the release sought this will be followed by the lawyer's signature which will be followed by a verification and which in turn will be followed by a certification of non-forum shopping which we will be discussing later in this video since the plaintiff or really the plaintiff's lawyer is the one who prepares the complaint it is the plaintiff who decides who the parties will be where the case will be filed what the cause of action is what evidence will be presented and what reliefs are sought so in this sense the complaint is the most important bleeding now let's talk about complaint and subject matter jurisdiction when you draft a complaint you should be careful to indicate the court which has the proper subject matter jurisdiction over your case this is indicated in the caption of the complaint you will indicate if the complaint is to be filed in the MTC or RTC based on the provisions of the law on subject matter jurisdiction so remember that your choice of subject matter jurisdiction must be correct because if a case is filed in a court that has no subject matter jurisdiction your case can be dismissed at any time during the proceedings either upon motion of the defendant or by the court Moto proprio lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter is one of the foregrounds where dismissal that can be raised at any time because when the court renders a decision on a subject matter over which it has no jurisdiction that decision is void although subject matter jurisdiction is conferred by law it is determined by the allegations of the complaint to reiterate it is the complaint that determines subject matter jurisdiction based on its allegations the answer does not do so now I'd like to illustrate this concept more concretely if the complaint is for unlawful detainer the MTC has subject matter jurisdiction an action foreign lawful detainer can be filed by a landlord who lists out a piece of real property but the less he continued to stay despite the termination of the lease contracts suppose the lessee as defendant claims in his answer that he owns the real property in an attempt to prove that the case is not for unlawful detainer and that the issue involves ownership of the property the defendant insists that the RTC not MPC has subject matter jurisdiction given the assessed value of the property he now files a motion to dismiss for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction is this going to prosper the answer is no the reason is that the allegations of the complaint not the allegations of the answer determine the subject matter jurisdiction okay now let's proceed to the body of the complaint the body of the complaint should contain the following number one statement of the names and circumstances of the parties number two the statement of the facts constituting the cause of action number three the legal basis for bringing this case number four the factual basis for bringing this case and when we say factual basis we're talking about the evidence so and then you also include in the body the witnesses meaning the names of the witnesses the summary of their testimonies and you must attach their judicial affidavits to the complaint then you must also include a listing of the documentary evidence and the real evidence okay and copies of these must also be attached to the complaint now for details you must refer to rule 7 and 8 of the rules of court statement of the names and circumstances of the parties as mentioned earlier this will appear in the first couple of paragraphs of the complaint so for the plaintiff a simple allegation is as follows if the plaintiff is an individual quote plaintiff is Filipino of legal age single and residing at 54321 makopa street frutas village Sao Paulo Manila close code if the plane team is a corporation here is a sample allegation plaintiff is a domestic Corporation organized under Philippine laws with principal address at 54321 makopa street fruita's village Sao Paulo Manila okay so after that so you have the allegations about the circumstances of the plaintiff the name the address then you go to the allegations about the defendant if he is an individual it will be as follows defendant is Filipino of legal age and with residential address at 987 Blackjack Village Sao Paulo Manila where he may be served with summons and other processes of The Honorable Court if the defendant is a cooperation the allegation would be defendant is a domestic Corporation organized under Philippine laws with principal address at 987 Blackjack Village Sao Paulo Manila where it may be served with summons and other processes of The Honorable Court okay so note these allegations would enable anyone to determine if the complaint has been filed in the proper venue if it is a transitory action now the next part is statement of the facts constituting the cause of action so the next paragraphs should State the facts okay that the present cause of action of the plaintiff consists of now again let us go back to the elements of a course of action make sure that in reciting the facts or in narrating the facts you are able to show that each element is present what are these the plaintiff's right that's the first element the second element is the defendant's obligation and the third element is the violation committed by the defendant resulting in damage or injury to the plaintiff it is important that the factual basis of each element be stated in clear terms do not rely on implications factual basis now in preparing your complaint the best way to present it generally is in chronological order it would show a clear and logical story starting with how plaintiff's right was acquired or recognized what the defendant did to violate the right what injury the plaintiff incurred because of the violation the chronological order makes it easier for the judge and the parties to process the story naturally the story should end with the effects of the violation injury and damage cause and expenses incurred by the plaintiff and the natural uh consequence of this would be the relief thought what remedies does the plaintiff seek to restore him as close as possible to his position before the violation this will entail Indemnity for damages or payment of a sum of money interest costs and attorneys fees now let's go to the next part which is statement of the legal basis under rule 8 section 1 it states every pleading shall contain in a methodical and logical form a plain concise and direct statement of the ultimate facts including the evidence on which the party pleading relies for his or her claim or defense as the case may be if a cause of action or defense relied on is based on law the pertinent Provisions thereof and their applicability to him or her shall be clearly and concisely stated So based on this you should State the legal basis of your claim now after the legal basis meaning the law injuries Prudence you follow with a statement of the factual basis nothing factual basis this is your documentary and real evidence remember that I have always been saying that every case deals with only two types of issues legal and factual legal issues are resolved by a resort to the applicable laws factual issues are resolved by a study of the available evidence therefore in your complaint you are required to lay down the factual basis of your claim now rule 7 section 6 requires you to include the following in your complaint names of witnesses who will be presented to prove a party's claim or defense and then summary of the witnesses intended testimonies provided that the judicial affidavit subset Witnesses shall be attached to the pleading and form an integral part thereof only Witnesses judicial affidavits are attached to the pleading shall be presented by the parties during trial except if a party presents meritorious reasons as basis for the admission of additional Witnesses no other witness or affidavit shall be heard or admitted by the courts close except for meritorious reasons which are exceptional in nature and discretionary upon the court and then you must also give an enumeration of the documentary and object evidence in support of the allegations contained in the pleading and attach these copies copies of these or reproductions of these to your complaint now this will be followed by the prayer the lawyer's signature verification and certification of non-forum shopping so is a prayer the reliefs sought the prayer in the complaint tells the court what relieves the plaintiff is seeking the reliefs must be specific because this tell the court exactly what the plaintiff should prove by evidence these also serve as the basis for computing the filing fee now according to the Supreme Court the Court's Grant of relief is limited only to what has been prayed for in the complaint or related there to supported by evidence and covered by the party's cause of action that is in a 2013 case entitled Leticia diona versus Romeo a balangue now plaintiff may include a general prayer for such other reliefs as may be just an equitable in the circumstances the Supreme Court said certainly a prayer for other just and Equitable reliefs appearing on a complaint or pleading uh normally enables the court to award relief supported by the complaint or other pleadings by the facts admitted to the trial and by the evidence Accused by the parties even if these reliefs are not specifically prayed for in the complaint that is in the case of illustrial versus illusorio that is why it is important that you will include that phrase at the end of your prayer a prayer for such other reliefs as maybe just an equitable in the premises now after this you follow with a lawyer's signature and this is also a very important ethical commitments and you find that in rule 7 section three so every bleeding or other submissions to the court must be signed by the party or Council representing him or her what is the significance of the lawyer's signature it is a certificate by him that he or she has read the pleading and document led to the best of his knowledge or her knowledge information and belief formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances number one it is not being presented for any improper purpose such as to harass cause unnecessary delay or needlessly increase the cost of litigation number two the claims defenses and other illegal contentions are warranted by existing lower jurisprudence or by a non-frivolous argument for extending modifying or reversing existing jurisprudence number three the factual contentions have evidentiary support or is specifically so identified we likely have evidentially support after availment of the modes of Discovery under these rules and number four the denials of factual contentions are warranted on the evidence or if so specifically identified are reasonably based on belief or lack of information now if the chord determines that this rule has been violated it may impose an appropriate sanction or refer such violation to the proper office for disciplinary action an improper office for example the the integrated bar of the Philippines okay or any attorney on you know disciplinary action on any Attorney Law Firm or party that violated the rule or it's responsible for the violation absent exceptional circumstances a law firm shall be held jointly and severally liable for a violation committed by its partner associate or employee the sanction may include but shall not be limited to non-monetary directive or sanctioned in order to pay a penalty in court or if imposed on motion and warranted for Effective deterrence an order directing the payment to the movement of part or all of the reasonable attorneys fees and other expenses directly resulting from the violation including attorney's fees for the filing of the motion for sanction and this is important the lawyer or Law Firm cannot pass on the monetary penalty to the client okay important now take note of the sanctions and disciplinary actions that may be imposed upon the lawyer and the law firm for violations of these commitments note also that these violations may be committed not only by the lawyers but also by non-lawyer employees of the firm lastly if a monetary penalty is imposed on the lawyer or the law firm they cannot pass this on to the client now let's go to verification and certification of non-forum shopping there are different these are different parts of the pleading young verification Forum Shopping certification these are governed by separate sections of rule seven namely sections four and five kyalang in actual practice often the lawyer combines these two okay now the verification should be under oath it is signed by the plaintiff or his or her representative there are two situations when the representative May sign one is when the plaintiff is not available as when he is out of the country the other is when the plaintiff is a juridical person such as a partnership or a corporation the authorization of the representative is proven by a special power of attorney or a secretary certificate which should be attached to that complaint now the signature of the plaintiff or representative also has certain commitments that are specified in section 4 and which should be alleged in the verification itself letter A the allegations are true and correct based on the signatory's personal knowledge or based on authentic documents letter B the pleading is not filed to harass cause unnecessary delay or needlessly increase the cost of litigation and letter C the factual allegations therein have evidentiary support or if specifically so identified we likewise have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for discovery now the signature of the afian shall further serve as a certification of the truthfulness of the allegations in the bleeding a bleeding required to be verified that contains a verification based on information and belief or upon knowledge information and belief or lacks of proper verification shall be treated as an unsigned bleeding okay now the significance of an oath meaning the verification is that if it turns out that the allegations are not true the person who signed it can be held criminally liable for perjury perjury is penalized under article 183 of the revised penal code okay now let's go to the certification of non-forum shopping it is governed by Section 5 and this is what section 5 States the plaintiff or principal party shall certify under oath in the complaint or other initiatory pleading asserting a claim or relief or in a sworn certification an exotherm 2 and simultaneously file there with a that he or she has not there to for commenced any action or filed any claim involving the same issues in any Court tribunal or quasi-judicial agency and to the best of his or her knowledge no such other action or claim is spending therein letter B if there is such other pending action or claim a complete statement of the present status thereof and letter C if he or she should thereafter learn that the same or similar action or claim has been filed or is pending he or she shall report that fact within five Thailand our days they're from to the court where in his or her afforescent complaint or initiatory bleeding has been filed now the rules also provide the authorization of the afian to act on behalf of a party whether in the form of a secretary's certificate or a special power of attorney should be attached to the pleading failure to comply with a foregoing requirements shall not be curable by mere Amendment of the complaint or other initiatory pleading but shall be a cause for dismissal of the case without prejudice unless otherwise provided upon motion and after hearing now the next one is important also important the submission of a false certification or non-compliance with any of the undertakings therein shall constitute indirect contempt of court without prejudice to the corresponding administrative and criminal actions there is foreign shopping now that is a false certification okay and then the provision continues if the acts of the party or his or her Council clearly constitute willful and deliberate form shopping the same shall be a ground for summary dismissal with prejudice and shall constitute direct content as well as a cause for administrative sanctions and certification of non-forum shopping we're gonna be ending here and I will be seeing you at the next video to get more videos that will help you in your law studies and by review subscribe to my YouTube channel and I'd like you to read my virtual textbook on civil procedure at www.profchato.com finally I want to share with you my favorite Bible verse found in Micah chapter 6 verse 8. do justice love kindness and walk humbly with God