Also known as: stipulate · stipulates · stipulated · stipulating · stipulations · stipulatio · stipulator
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A voluntary agreement between opposing parties or their counsel concerning a factual, procedural, or evidentiary matter in a pending case. The agreement binds the parties without additional consideration and narrows the issues for trial or streamlines discovery.
Skylar Sullivan served twenty-six interrogatories on Stonehaven Properties in a contract dispute. The parties executed a written agreement allowing the extra interrogatory, and the court accepted the filing without further motion practice.
Simon Stern, charged as a felon in possession, offered to stipulate that he had a qualifying prior conviction. The government declined and sought to introduce the full judgment and sentencing transcript, prompting the court to weigh prejudice under Rule 403.
Sarah Sullivan and Summit Bank met at the Rule 16 conference and agreed that certain bank records were authentic and that the loan balance on a stated date was $142,000. The court incorporated the agreement into the pretrial order, eliminating the need for authentication testimony.
Sophia Singh served requests for admission on Sapphire Holdings. The parties agreed in writing to extend the response deadline by twenty days under Rule 29, and Sapphire served its answers within the extended period without objection.
Sofia Stern filed a divorce residency challenge and stipulated with the state that numerous other plaintiffs were in identical situations and that joinder was impracticable. The district court approved the stipulation and certified the class.
Carol Sosna married Michael Sosna on September 5, 1964, in Michigan. They lived together in New York between October 1967 and August 1971, after which they separated but continued to reside there. In August 1972 Sosna moved to Iowa with her three children. The following month she petitioned the District Court of Jackson County, Iowa, for dissolution of her marriage. Michael Sosna was personally served when he visited Iowa and made a special appearance to contest jurisdiction. The Iowa court dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction under Iowa Code § 598.6 because Sosna had not resided in the state for one year preceding the filing. Instead of appealing, Sosna filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa seeking injunctive and declaratory relief on constitutional grounds. A three-judge court was convened pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281 and 2284. While the federal action was pending, the Iowa Supreme Court decided In re Marriage of Williams, 217 N.W.2d 202 (1974), and upheld the statute's constitutionality. The three-judge court upheld the residency requirement. This Court noted probable jurisdiction. During the appeal Sosna obtained a divorce in New York, though custody and support issues remained unresolved from the Iowa proceeding. She returned to Iowa to prosecute the appeal. Sosna sought class certification under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 to represent Iowa residents who had lived in the state less than one year and wished to initiate divorce actions but were barred by the residency requirement. The parties stipulated that numerous people were similarly situated, joinder was impracticable, her claims were representative, and she would adequately protect class interests. The district court approved the stipulation in a pretrial order.
View caseSolomon Silver was prosecuted for online threats. The parties stipulated that an FBI agent would testify the defendant admitted operating the website and authoring the posts. The stipulation was read to the jury in lieu of live testimony.
In 2008 defendant William White, leader of the American National Socialist Workers Party, operated the website Overthrow.com. On September 11, 2008, White posted an article titled "Hale Seeks To Have Sentence Overturned" with the sub-headline "Gay Jewish Anti-Racist Led Jury." The post included a photograph of Mark Hoffman, who had served as foreperson on the jury that convicted Matthew Hale in 2004, along with Hoffman's date of birth, address at 6915 Hamilton #A Chicago IL 60645, cell phone number, home phone number, and office number, and described Hoffman as living with his "gay black lover" and cat "homeboy." The posts appeared the same day a Chicago Sun-Times article discussed Hale's post-conviction motion challenging Hoffman's jury service on grounds including Hoffman's sexual orientation and race of his partner. White posted a virtually identical version on the blog section of the site and, after Northwestern University removed Hoffman's photo, posted an update the next day noting the block and repeating the same personal information. The site at the time also displayed links to other articles including one titled "Kill Richard Warman" and a magazine cover image showing crosshairs over Barack Obama's head titled "Kill This Nigger?" Hoffman received a harassing phone call from a Virginia number on September 11, 2008, asking about his jury service, followed by text messages containing offensive content. Hoffman contacted Northwestern security and FBI Agent Sara Lopez. FBI agents later executed search warrants at properties associated with White in Roanoke, Virginia, seizing the server used to run Overthrow.com and confirming through forensic analysis that White created the Hoffman posts. The government charged White with one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 373 by soliciting or endeavoring to persuade another person to injure Hoffman based on his jury service in the Hale case. A prior district judge dismissed the superseding indictment, the Seventh Circuit reversed and remanded for trial, and an anonymous jury returned a guilty verdict. White moved for judgment of acquittal under Fed. R. Crim. P. 29. At trial the evidence revealed that all of the information in the posts was in the public domain. Former ANSWP members Philip Anderson and Michael Burks testified about the organization's structure, conference calls, and their interactions with White, including White's post-arrest instructions to Anderson to contact other white supremacists to determine whether anyone planned to harm Hoffman. The government introduced dozens of prior Overthrow.com posts in which White had published addresses and expressed violent wishes toward other individuals.
View caseA stipulation between parties is binding without consideration once made, but certain stipulations that affect court schedules or discovery deadlines require court approval under the Federal Rules.
Once approved or relied upon by the court, a stipulation is generally binding and may be set aside only upon a showing of good cause such as fraud or manifest injustice.
When the defendant offers to stipulate to felon status, the government may be limited to introducing only the fact of the conviction rather than the full record if the additional details create unfair prejudice that substantially outweighs probative value.
A stipulation removes the need to prove the agreed fact, allowing the jury to be instructed that the fact is established and focusing the trial on genuinely disputed issues.