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Federal Court / Civil Litigation

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Cryuff14

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?
Virginia

Federal Court, Eastern District, Alexandria, VA. Counterfeit Trademark Case. Party A sued Party B (myself). Party A won on liability and damages. I have appealed to the 4th Circ. Appellate Court. I intend to sue Party A for wrongful search and seizure and other claims.

Question. Are the Court documents in the action Party A vs Party B, the declarations and other signed, sworn documents, admissible in Party B vs Party A?:confused:
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
What is the name of your state?
Virginia

Federal Court, Eastern District, Alexandria, VA. Counterfeit Trademark Case. Party A sued Party B (myself). Party A won on liability and damages. I have appealed to the 4th Circ. Appellate Court. I intend to sue Party A for wrongful search and seizure and other claims.

Question. Are the Court documents in the action Party A vs Party B, the declarations and other signed, sworn documents, admissible in Party B vs Party A?:confused:
Who is Party A?

In other words, are you trying to sue a private entity for wrongful search and seizure?

Also, this sounds like it should've been litigated in the first claim. Why was it not?
 

Cryuff14

Junior Member
Reply

We were pro se in this and yes, this is a private entity. We did file this as a counter claim but found ourselves stretched too thin. I don't recall which FRCP, 15 maybe which allows one to withdraw a claim w/o prejudice which we did.

Thanks for the response.
 

Cryuff14

Junior Member
Relevance of District Courts Earlier Decision

If we refile our claims against Party A (wrongful seizure, malicious prosecution etc), they will able to use the fact that they prevailed against us on trademark infringement and damages, right? (even though we have appealed). When they do, can we use/introduce evidence discovered after their action against us concluded (last October) to offset this?

Thank you:rolleyes:
 

badapple40

Senior Member
Few things:

I've litigated cases in the ED VA. Rocket docket -- and the judges don't mess around. It is perhaps the WORST case to be going pro se.

As for your "lawsuits" -- additional claims will probably be barred by res judicata-- meaning you should have filed (and supported) the claims with evidence and prevailed on them in the initial proceeding.

The appeals court will not allow you to introduce new evidence. An appeal is not a new trial. You will be required to point out legally why the trial court erred. If the case went to trial -- as opposed to summary judgment, you are likely out of luck given the deference to the trier of fact on appeal. If it was disposed of via summary judgment, then hopefully you introduced factual evidence (declarations, etc) that created issues of fact. But my guess is you did not.

And my guess is that the trial court, in the ED VA, did not err (they usually don't). You also have various filing requirements, including an appendix, that is likely outside the realm of a pro se party being able to do it by themself.

In other words, you are up a creek without a paddle, and the best advice we can possibly give you is that you need to seek a qualified attorney's assistance -- or be prepared to pay the judgment and have your assets seized (or look into bankruptcy).

Good luck, you are going to need it.
 

Cryuff14

Junior Member
Thank You For Your Response

We dismissed our action and related claims against them under FRCP 41. We intend to re-file these claims. Our appeal, we believe is sound; (summary judgment on liability and bench trial on damages) and we'll have to wait and see what happens with it.

If you would, my question was "If we refile our claims against Party A (wrongful seizure, malicious prosecution etc), they will able to use the fact that they prevailed against us on trademark infringement and damages, right?. When they do, can we use/introduce evidence discovered after their action against us concluded (last October) to offset this?

Thank You:cool:
 

badapple40

Senior Member
If the claims that they prevailed on arise out of the same set of facts or similar facts that are the basis of your counterclaims then they have a good argument that such claims are barred by res judicata.

If newly discovered evidence is at issue, the best course of action is filing a 60(B) action in the trial court to set aside the original judgment. If same set of facts are at issue, you have to successfully attack original judgment before you'll be able to assert new claims.

And, in the meantime, statute of limitations may become an issue.
 

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