Also known as: prima facie
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A showing or body of evidence sufficient on its initial appearance to establish a fact or raise a presumption that stands unless rebutted.
Defense counsel in a securities fraud trial notes that the prosecutor used nine of ten peremptory strikes against male venire members and explains the pattern by stating women are less likely to identify with male finance defendants. The court finds the statistical disparity plus the gender-based explanation satisfies the initial threshold. The burden therefore shifts to the prosecutor to supply a race- and gender-neutral reason for each strike.
Dylan petitions for a declaration of intestacy after his brother’s death and presents the death certificate, venue documents, and proof he is the sole heir. The probate court accepts these materials as meeting the initial statutory threshold. The burden then moves to any will proponent to establish due execution.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A buyer of a home treadmill sues the manufacturer after the machine’s defective belt causes serious personal injury. The sales contract limits consequential damages to the purchase price. The court treats the limitation as presumptively invalid because the goods are consumer products and the harm is personal injury.
A state statute treats any cross burning on another’s property as sufficient on its face to prove intent to intimidate. The defendant offers evidence that the burning was part of a political rally with no threat directed at any person. The court holds that the statute cannot convert the act into automatic proof of intent without allowing rebuttal.
A jury awards a consumer $4,000 in compensatory damages and $2 million in punitive damages against an automobile manufacturer for a minor paint defect. The ratio alone supplies the threshold indication that the punitive award may be excessive. The court therefore requires the plaintiff to justify the amount under substantive due-process standards.
The United States seeks an injunction preventing newspapers from publishing classified documents obtained from a former employee. The government presents an affidavit asserting that disclosure would cause immediate harm to national security. The Court treats the request as carrying a heavy initial presumption against prior restraint that the government must overcome with specific proof.
A defendant must present evidence that permits an inference of purposeful racial discrimination, such as a pattern of strikes against members of a cognizable group combined with other relevant circumstances. Once that threshold is met, the burden shifts to the striking party to offer a race-neutral explanation.
The proponent of the will must establish prima facie proof of due execution in every case. If the proponent is also the petitioner, that party must additionally supply prima facie proof of death and venue.
A limitation or exclusion of consequential damages is presumptively unconscionable when it applies to personal injury arising from consumer goods. The same limitation is not presumptively invalid when the loss is purely commercial.
No. While a state may criminalize cross burning done with intent to intimidate, it may not make the act itself sufficient on its face to prove that intent without allowing the defendant an opportunity to show an expressive, non-threatening purpose.
…to apply the Federal Rule, and can refuse to do so only if the Advisory Committee, this Court, and Congress erred in their prima facie judgment that the Rule in question transgresses neither the terms of the Enabling Act nor constitutional restrictions.[^maj-13] We are reminded by the Erie opinion[^maj-14] that neither…