This manual will assist any individual who finds themselves involved in a civil litigation and either cannot afford an attorney or chooses to not hire an attorney to represent them. This manual covers all phases of civil litigation from drafting the complaint, serving discovery, filing various motions, and conducting a jury trial. You will find various court forms, examples of actual filed court documents drafted and prepared by pro se litigants in various states, a list and explanation of all courts in the 50 states of the U.S. including a web-site address, the 50 States Rules of Civil Procedure web-site address, as well as where to find case law research. You will be informed on the complete civil litigation process to assist you in representing yourself with confidence and knowledge of the law and how it works.

STATEMENT OF JURISDICTION AND VENUE The Statement of Jurisdiction and Venue appears in the second section to inform the court its jurisdiction is invoked in the matter based on the following reasons: A) State Statute; B) citizenship of the parties or at least one party; C) State and County where the actions complained of occurred; D) Dollar amount in controversy. The above is essential and paramount to the filing of your Complaint in that the court you are filing the cause of action in must have jurisdiction in some form to hear and determine the matter. Typically, General Jurisdiction is invoked based on where the events occurred you are complaining of. “General Jurisdiction” is defined as, “a court’s authority to hear a wide range of cases, civil or criminal, that arise within it geographic area.” The court must also have jurisdiction of one of the parties which is referred to as “Personam Jurisdiction”, “a court’s power to bring a person into its adjudicative process; jurisdiction over a defendant’s personal rights, rather than merely over property interests.” or jurisdiction over the subject matter of the cause referred to as “Subject Matter Jurisdiction”, “jurisdiction over the nature of the case and the type of relief sought; the extent to which a court can rule on the conduct of the persons or the status of things.” There are many forms of jurisdiction. They consist of: Foreign Jurisdiction General Jurisdiction Home-State Jurisdiction In Personam Jurisdiction In Rem Jurisdiction International Jurisdiction Judicial Jurisdiction Limited Jurisdiction Long Arm Jurisdiction Original Jurisdiction Plenary Jurisdiction Primary Jurisdiction Probate Jurisdiction Prorogated Jurisdiction Quasi-In-Rem Jurisdiction Subject Matter Jurisdiction Supplemental Jurisdiction Exclusive Jurisdiction The above consist of the most invoked jurisdictions, but not all types of jurisdiction in law. To review the definition of the above jurisdictions as they may pertain to your case, as well several other types of jurisdiction, See Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th Ed. at 869-871. The types of jurisdiction most actions invoke are personam, subject matter, in vested general jurisdiction courts.

Patricia Townsend has experienced self-representation in both state and federal courts. She has also represented herself in the United States Supreme Court. She has experienced first hand how courts can discriminate against pro se litigants. Why courts of law discriminate against pro se litigants to the decree they do is because most judges assume pro se litigants are ignorant of the law and cause needless time, money, and costs by filing actions in courts of law without attorney representation. It is believed lawyers do not bring frivolous actions into courts of law for they are advocates of the court and to do so would be placing their credibility in harms way with the court and its presiding judges, therefore, when a litigant is represented by an attorney, it is assumed their case must be viable. For judges to discriminate in such a matter is wrong and a violation of an individuals constitutional rights. Patricia Townsend is self taught in the law by reading the law. She has study and learned the law in all 50 states of the U.S. She has learned federal and constitutional law extensively. The most important aspects she has come to understand concerning self-representation is to file all documents with a court in there proper format, legibly, and pursuant to law and the Rules of Procedure. Self-represented litigants must have viable claims, they cannot be imagined, or for purposes of harassment. She has discovered that even when a pro se litigant brings a viable controversy into court, some judges will rule against them and enter orders their cause is frivolous and sanction them wrongly to deter them from seeking justice in a higher court. Such was the case with an action she filed concerning real property. The presiding judge in the state court action ruled against her, even when the evidence and testimony proved she was in the right by law. The presiding judge in the case acted in the absence of jurisdiction, thereby violating her constitutional rights under the U.S. Constitution. She fought the decision for four years taking it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. She wrote this book as means to inform pro se litigants across the Country on how to draft and properly prepare various court documents, as well as to file viable claims pursuant to the Rules of Civil Procedure and law, when it becomes necessary to take a matter into a court of law seeking justice for a wrongful act committed by another. Today, fewer and fewer individuals can afford lawyer representation. Attorney’s fees have become costly, and she strongly believes individuals should not be required to have lawyer representation if they choose not to. It has long been the rights of any U.S. citizen to represent themselves in a court of law, in fact, it has been our right for 200 years, and this right appears to be fading rapidly by the way judges are electing to rule against pro se litigants erroneously. As an advocate of pro se litigants, and the U.S. Constitution, she hopes this book helps them take their cause to victory and justice and to keep the battle alive until justice has been done.