Report of a Survey of United States District Judges' Experiences and Views Concerning Rule 11, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

摘要

The Judicial Conference's Advisory Committee on Civil Rules asked the Federal Judicial Center to design and implement a survey of a representative national sample of federal district judges. The purpose of the survey was to gather information about the judges' experiences with Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as well as to elicit their opinions about recent proposals in Congress to amend Rule 11. The chair of the Advisory Committee and the committee's reporters helped develop the questionnaires. Center staff conducted the survey and analyzed the results during December 2004 and January 2005. As currently written, Rule 11 expressly authorizes judges to impose sanctions on lawyers and parties who present to a district court a pleading, written motion, or other paper without reasonable support in fact or law or for an improper purpose, such as to cause unnecessary cost or delay. Rule 11 provides that sanctions for violations are within the judge's discretion; that a party should have a period of time, a safe harbor, within which to withdraw or correct a filing alleged to violate Rule 11; and that Rule 11's primary purpose is to deter future violations and not necessarily to compensate the opposing party for losses, including attorney fees.