A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication .
98-485: In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an official and signed by numerous individuals. A petition may be oral rather than written, or may be transmitted via the Internet. Petition can also be the title of a legal pleading that initiates a legal case. The initial pleading in a civil lawsuit that seeks only money (damages) might be called (in most U.S. courts) a complaint . An initial pleading in
196-472: A complaint is the first pleading in American law filed by a plaintiff which initiates a lawsuit. A complaint sets forth the relevant allegations of fact that give rise to one or more legal causes of action along with a prayer for relief and sometimes a statement of damages claimed (an ad quod damnum clause). In some situations, a complaint is called a petition , in which case the party filing it
294-604: A civil action . The parties' pleadings in a case define the issues to be adjudicated in the action. The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) govern pleading in England and Wales . Federal Rules of Civil Procedure govern pleading in United States federal courts . Each state in the United States has its own statutes and rules that govern pleading in the courts of that state. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
392-411: A general appearance by a defendant. In England and Wales, the equivalent pleading is called a Defence. A defendant may also file a cross-complaint against another defendant named by the plaintiff and may also file a third-party complaint bring other parties into a case by the process of impleader . A defendant may file a counter-claim to raise a cause of action to defend, reduce or set off
490-708: A 2010 search of the Westlaw legal database , "pled" is used in a narrow majority of cases over "pleaded". The AP stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style call for "pleaded", and a Westlaw search shows the US Supreme Court has used pleaded in over 3,000 opinions and pled in only 26. 2003 California recall Gray Davis Democratic Arnold Schwarzenegger Republican Mayoral elections: Mayoral elections: Mayoral elections: Mayoral elections: Mayoral elections: Mayoral elections: The 2003 California gubernatorial recall election
588-454: A California Field Poll . Davis was almost universally disliked by both Republicans and Democrats in the state and a recall push was high. A hot-button issue that seemed to galvanize the public was the vehicle license fee increase Davis implemented under provisions of legislation passed by his predecessor which originally reduced the fees. On June 20, 2003, the Davis administration re-instituted
686-557: A Federal District Court. Davis, who had opposed the measure, decided not to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, effectively killing the ballot measure. He also signed two new restrictive gun-control laws. Many people were further upset about the then ongoing California electricity crisis . The crisis was brought on by a series of deregulatory moves, including a bill signed into law by the previous Governor. As Davis's recall transpired before he had served half of his term as governor, he remained eligible to serve another term, should he win
784-399: A ballot; while anyone can be a write-in candidate , a candidate desiring that his or her name appear on printed ballots and other official election materials must gather a certain number of valid signatures from registered voters. In jurisdictions whose laws allow for ballot initiatives , the gathering of a sufficient number of voter signatures qualifies a proposed initiative to be placed on
882-497: A candidate, Riordan dropped out of the race. Riordan was surprised and those close to him say angered when he learned Schwarzenegger was running. Riordan did end up endorsing Schwarzenegger, but his endorsement was described as terse and matter-of-fact in contrast to his usually effusive way. Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante himself entered the race and quickly became the Democratic frontrunner, although he continued to oppose
980-558: A cause for a hearing is settled. Black's Law Dictionary specifies it as an obsolete method used in admiralty cases. In the United States, the "act on petition" has been used in maritime cases. The first documented petitions were made by slaves building pyramids in Ancient Egypt who petitioned for better working conditions. In pre-modern Imperial China petitions were always sent to an Office of Transmission ( Tongzheng si or 通政司 ) where court secretaries read petitions aloud to
1078-416: A cause of action, the pleader has to plead each element and also allege specific facts which, if proven with evidence at trial, would constitute proof of that element. Failure to provide such detail could lead to dismissal of the case if the defendant successfully demurred to the complaint on the basis that it merely stated "legal conclusions" or "evidentiary facts." Code pleading also drastically shortened
SECTION 10
#17327650739241176-482: A cause of action. Other states, including Connecticut and New Jersey, are also fact-pleading jurisdictions. Illinois , for example, requires that a complaint "must assert a legally recognized cause of action and it must plead facts which bring the particular case within that cause of action." In alternative pleading , legal fiction is employed to permit a party to argue two mutually exclusive possibilities, for example, submitting an injury complaint alleging that
1274-472: A future election for the California governor post. Under California law, any elected official may be the target of a recall campaign. To trigger a recall election, proponents of the recall must gather a certain number of signatures from registered voters within a certain time period. The number of signatures statewide must equal 12% of the number of votes cast in the previous election for that office. For
1372-416: A lawsuit that seeks non-monetary or "equitable" relief, such as a request for a writ of mandamus or habeas corpus , custody of a child, or probate of a will, is instead called a petition . Act on petition is a "summary process" used in probate , ecclesiastical and divorce cases, designed to handle matters which are too complex for simple motion. The parties in a case exchange pleadings until
1470-507: A long list of 135 candidates. Voters who voted against recalling Davis could still vote for a candidate to replace him in case the recall vote succeeded. The candidate receiving the most votes (a plurality ) would then become the next governor of California. Certification by the Secretary of State of California would require completion within 39 days of the election, and history indicated that it could require that entire time frame to certify
1568-738: A nonrefundable $ 3,500 fee to become a candidate, or in lieu of the fee collect up to 10,000 signatures from any party, the fee being prorated by the fraction of 10,000 valid signatures the candidate filed. No candidate in fact collected more than a handful of signatures-in-lieu, so that all paid almost the entire fee. In addition, candidates from recognized third parties were allowed on the ballot with no fee if they could collect 150 signatures from their own party. The low requirements attracted many " average Joes " with no political experience to file as well as several celebrity candidates. Many prominent potential candidates chose not to run. These included Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein , widely regarded as
1666-415: A party could file a demurrer to the other's pleading (essentially a request that the court immediately rule on whether the pleading was legally adequate before they had to file a pleading in response) or simply file another pleading in response. Generally, a plea could be dilatory or peremptory. There were three kinds of dilatory plea: to the jurisdiction, in suspension, or in abatement. The first challenged
1764-472: A political game show featuring six candidates unlikely to win the election, including former child star Gary Coleman and porn star Mary Carey . Several candidates who would still be listed on the ballot dropped out of the campaign before the October 7 election. On August 23, Republican Bill Simon (the 2002 party nominee) announced he was dropping out. He said: "There are too many Republicans in this race and
1862-428: A recall campaign against a statewide elected official has gathered the required number of signatures, the governor is required to schedule a special election for the recall vote. If the recall campaign qualified less than 180 days prior to the next regularly scheduled election, then the recall becomes part of that regularly scheduled election. In the case of a recall against the governor, the responsibility for scheduling
1960-421: A reformist, who called the recall process a "precautionary measure by which a recalcitrant official can be removed". No illegality has to be committed by politicians in order for them to be recalled. If an elected official commits a crime while in office, the state legislature can hold impeachment trials. For a recall, only the will of the people is necessary to remove an official. Nineteen U.S. states, along with
2058-592: A special election falls on the lieutenant governor , who in 2003 was Cruz Bustamante . The political climate was largely shaped by the California electricity crisis of the early 2000s, during which many people experienced a tripling in the cost of their energy consumption as rolling blackouts happened throughout the state. The public held Davis partly responsible, although the causes included federal deregulation and California's Electric Utility Industry Restructuring Act, signed into law by Governor Wilson. Driving
SECTION 20
#17327650739242156-442: A split of the Democratic vote between him and Bustamante, should the recall succeed. On September 3, five top candidates—independent Arianna Huffington, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, Green Party candidate Peter Camejo , Republican State Senator Tom McClintock, and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth —participated in a live television debate. Noticeably absent was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who opponents charged
2254-504: A state that derives its legal tradition from the Spanish and French civil law (as opposed to English common law ), employs a system of fact pleading wherein it is only necessary to plead the facts that give rise to a cause of action. It is not necessary even for the petitioner to identify the cause of action being pleaded. However, mere conclusory allegations such as "the defendant was negligent" are not, by themselves, sufficient to sustain
2352-621: A voter could vote for or against the recall election and still vote for a replacement candidate. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley did not contest the ruling, thereby setting a legal precedent. In August, a federal judge in San Jose announced that he was considering issuing an order postponing the recall election. Activists in Monterey County had filed suit, claiming that Monterey County, and other counties of California affected by
2450-411: A website, cooperative e-mail, word-of-mouth, and grassroots campaigning to drive the signature gathering. Davis derided the effort as "partisan mischief" by "a handful of right-wing politicians" and called the proponents losers; nevertheless, by mid-May, recall proponents said they had gathered 300,000 signatures. They sought to gather the necessary signatures by July in order to get the special election in
2548-405: Is a pleading (usually filed by a defendant ) which objects to the legal sufficiency of the opponent's pleading (usually a complaint) and demands that the court rule immediately about whether the pleading is legally adequate before the party must plead on the merits in response. Since the demurrer procedure required an immediate ruling as does a motion, many common law jurisdictions therefore narrowed
2646-496: Is called the petitioner and the other party is the respondent . In equity, sometimes called chancery, the initial pleading may be called either a petition or a bill of complaint in chancery . In England and Wales, the first pleading is a Claim Form, issued under either Part 7 or Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules, which sets out the nature of the action and the relief sought, and may give brief particulars of
2744-504: Is the dominant form of pleading used in the United States today. In 1938, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were adopted to govern civil procedure in United States federal courts . One goal of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure was to relax the strict rules of code pleading. However, each state also has its own rules of civil procedure, which may require different, looser, or stricter rules in state court . Louisiana ,
2842-554: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claimed that the use of the " hanging chad " style punch-card ballots still in use in six California counties ( Los Angeles , Mendocino , Sacramento , San Diego , Santa Clara , and Solano ) were in violation of fair election laws. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson in Los Angeles ruled on August 20, 2003, that the election would not be delayed because of
2940-503: The California Secretary of State and started gathering signatures. The effort was not taken seriously until U.S. Representative Darrell Issa , who hoped to run as a replacement candidate for governor, donated $ 2 million to a new committee, Rescue California, which then led the effort. Eventually, proponents gathered about 1.6 million signatures, of which 1,356,408 were certified as valid. Under most circumstances in which
3038-467: The California electricity crisis slammed the state in 2001, Davis was blasted for his slow and ineffective response. His approval rating dropped into the 30s and never recovered. When the energy crisis settled down, Davis's administration was hit with a fund-raising scandal. California had a $ 95 million contract with Oracle Corporation that was found to be unnecessary and overpriced by the state auditor. Three of Davis's aides were fired or resigned after it
Petition - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-489: The U.S. Supreme Court ; however, an 11-judge en banc panel, also from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and quickly and carefully canvassed by Judge Alex Kozinski , gathered to rehear the controversial case. On the morning of September 23, the panel reversed the three-judge ruling in a unanimous decision, arguing that the concerns about the punch-card ballots were outweighed by the harm that would be done by postponing
3234-501: The Voting Rights Act were violating the act by announcing that, because of budgetary constraints, they were planning on hiring fewer Spanish-speaking poll watchers, and were going to cut back by almost half the number of polling places. On September 5, a three-member panel of federal judges ruled that the county's election plans did not constitute a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act. A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles by
3332-423: The " dot-com bubble "—from 1996 to 2000—when Silicon Valley was the center of the internet economy . California state expenditures soared when the government was flush with revenues. Some Californians blamed Davis and the state legislature for continuing to spend heavily while revenues dried up, ultimately leading to record deficits. The California electricity crisis of 2000–2001 caused great financial damage to
3430-461: The 2003 recall election, that meant a minimum of 897,156 signatures, based on the November 2002 statewide elections. As the 2002 California gubernatorial election had the lowest turnout in modern history, the number of signatures required was less than usual. The effort to recall Gray Davis began with Republicans Ted Costa, Mark Abernathy, and Howard Kaloogian , who filed their petition with
3528-625: The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and used his political connections to pass an estimated $ 5 billion raise for them over the coming years. That led many people throughout California to believe Davis was guilty of corruption, even if he did not meet the standard necessary for prosecution. On February 5, 2003, anti-tax activist Ted Costa announced a plan to start a petition drive to recall Davis. Several committees were formed to collect signatures, but Costa's Davis Recall Committee
3626-510: The District of Columbia, allow the recall of state officials. Before the successful recall of Gray Davis, no California statewide official had ever been recalled, although there had been 117 previous attempts. Only seven of those even made it onto the ballot, all for state legislators. Every California governor since Goodwin Knight in the 1950s has been subject to a recall effort. Davis was
3724-489: The Governor's recall characterized the increase as a tax hike and used it as an issue in the recall campaign. In mid-August 2003, Davis floated a plan to reverse the increase, making up the revenue with taxes on high-income earners, cigarettes, and alcoholic beverages. When Davis was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor in October 2003, Schwarzenegger vowed that his first act as governor would be to revoke
3822-464: The Secretary of State announced that the signatures had been certified and a recall election would take place. Proponents had set a goal of 1.2 million to provide a buffer in case of invalid signatures. In the end, there were 1,363,411 valid signatures out of 1,660,245 collected (897,156 required). On July 24, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante announced that Davis would face a recall election. This
3920-582: The United Kingdom, a petition to the parliament in 1990 against ambulance service cuts attracted 4.5 million signatures. Today, petitions in Britain are often presented through the UK Parliament petitions website , the forerunner of which was set up in 2006. Such online petitions are a new form of a petition becoming commonplace in the 21st century. Change.org was founded in 2007 and became
4018-431: The actual "real-world" facts of the case. The placeholder name John Doe (still commonly used in American pleading to name unknown parties) is a remnant of this period. In its final form in the 19th century, common law pleading was terribly complex and slow by modern standards. The parties would normally go through several rounds of pleadings before the parties were deemed to have clearly stated their controversy, so that
Petition - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-677: The ballot as possible replacements for Davis. After that step, a vote on the recall was scheduled. Other types of petitions include those that sought to free Nelson Mandela during his imprisonment by the former apartheid government of South Africa . The petitions had no legal effect, but the signatures of millions of people on the petitions represented a moral force that may have helped free Mandela and end apartheid. Non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International often use petitions in an attempt to exert moral authority in support of various causes. Other nongovernmental subjects of petition drives include corporate personnel decisions. In
4214-467: The ballot. The 2003 California recall election, which culminated in the recall of Governor Gray Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger , began when U.S. Representative Darrell Issa employed paid signature gatherers who obtained millions of signatures at a cost to Issa of millions of dollars. Once the requisite number of signatures was obtained on the recall petition, other petitions were circulated by would-be candidates who wanted to appear on
4312-426: The case was "at issue" and could proceed to trial. A case would begin with a complaint in which the plaintiff alleged the facts entitling him to relief, then the defendant would file any one of a variety of pleas as an answer, followed by a replication from the plaintiff, a rejoinder from the defendant, a surrejoinder from the plaintiff, a rebutter from the defendant, and a surrebutter from the plaintiff. At each stage,
4410-533: The claim of the plaintiff . Common law pleading was the system of civil procedure used in England, which early on developed a strong emphasis on the form of action rather than the cause of action (as a result of the Provisions of Oxford , which severely limited the evolution of the common law writ system). The emphasis was on procedure over substance. Law and equity evolved as separate judicial systems, each with its own procedures and remedies. Because
4508-504: The claim. The Claimant also has the option, under Practice Direction 7A.61 to serve Particulars of Claim (a document setting out the allegations which found the cause of action) within 14 days of the issue of the Claim Form. When used in civil proceedings in England and Wales, the term "complaint" refers to the mechanism by which civil proceedings are instituted in the magistrates' court and may be either written or oral. A demurrer
4606-536: The committee had to collect signatures from registered California voters amounting to 12% of the number of Californians who voted in the previous gubernatorial election (November 2002) for the special recall vote to take place. The organization was given the go-ahead to collect signatures on March 25, 2003. Organizers had 160 days to collect signatures. Specifically, they had to collect at least 897,158 valid signatures from registered voters by September 2, 2003. The recall movement began slowly, largely relying on talk radio,
4704-412: The concept of pleadings to be framing the issues in a case. Pleadings are not motions in and of themselves, and courts replaced the demurrer mechanism with the motion to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action or the application to strike out particulars of claim. An answer is a pleading filed by a defendant which admits or denies the specific allegations set forth in a complaint and constitutes
4802-436: The court's jurisdiction, the second asked the court to stay the action, and the third asked the court to dismiss the action without prejudice to the other side's right to bring the claims in another action or another court. A peremptory plea had only one kind: a plea in bar. A party making a plea in bar could either traverse the other side's pleading (i.e., deny all or some of the facts pleaded) or confess and avoid it (i.e., admit
4900-520: The crisis. Davis swept into the governor's office in 1998 in a landslide victory and a 60% approval rating as California's economy roared to new heights during the dot-com boom. Davis took his mandate from the voters and sought out a centrist political position, refusing some demands from labor unions and teachers' organizations on the left. The Democratic Davis, already opposed by Republicans, began losing favor among members of his own party. Nevertheless, Davis's approval ratings remained above 50%. When
4998-589: The crisis. Opponents felt that a corporate-friendly Republican governor could shield California politically from further corporate fraud. Others speculated that the corporations involved sought not only profit but were acting in concert with Republican political allies to cause political damage to the nationally influential Democratic governor. Still others, such as Arianna Huffington , argued that Davis's fundraising and campaign contributions from various companies, including energy companies, rendered him unable to confront his contributors. Davis had accepted $ 2 million from
SECTION 50
#17327650739245096-585: The development of jurisprudence . The emergence of petitioning during the reign of Edward I of England (1272-1307) contributed to beginnings of legislative power for the Parliament of England . Petitions became a common form of protest and request to the British House of Commons in the 18th and 19th centuries; one million petitions were submitted to the UK's parliament between 1780 and 1918. The largest
5194-468: The distinction between law and equity. It unified civil procedure for all types of actions as much as possible. The focus shifted from pleading the right form of action (that is, the right procedure) to pleading the right cause of action (that is, a substantive right to be enforced by the law). Code pleading stripped out most of the legal fictions that had encrusted common law pleading by requiring parties to plead "ultimate facts." This means that to plead
5292-563: The early 1740s, petitions were separated from other affairs and recorded in a unique archive. Hundreds of thousands of petitions were archived in Istanbul between the 15th and 20th centuries. By the early 16th century, a large portion of day-to-day decisions were made in response to petitions. Negotiations between city leaders and the empire often used petitions; this practice continued into the Tanzimat period. These negotiations contributed to
5390-601: The effect of lowering the threshold for the 2003 recall petition to qualify. On December 18, 2002, just over a month after being reelected, Davis announced that California would face a record budget deficit possibly as high as $ 35 billion, a forecast $ 13.7 billion higher than one a month earlier. The number was finally estimated to be $ 38.2 billion, more than all 49 other states' deficits combined. Already suffering from low approval ratings, Davis's numbers hit historic lows in April 2003 with 24% approval and 65% disapproval, according to
5488-572: The effort. All told, he contributed $ 1.7 million of his own money to finance advertisements and professional signature-gatherers. With the movement accelerated, the recall effort began to make national news and soon appeared to be almost a sure thing. The only question was whether signatures would be collected quickly enough to force the special election to take place in late 2003 rather than in March 2004. The Issa recall committee's e-mail stated that California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley , belonging to
5586-581: The election would have been held in March 2004, the next scheduled statewide election. Instead, Bustamante had to select a date. He chose Tuesday, October 7, 2003, which was 76 days after the date of certification. Backers of the recall effort cited Davis's alleged lack of leadership, combined with California's weakened and hurt economy. According to the circulated petition: [Governor Davis's actions were a] gross mismanagement of California Finances by overspending taxpayers' money, threatening public safety by cutting funds to local governments, failing to account for
5684-479: The emperor . Petitions could be sent by anybody, from a scholar-official to a common farmer, although the petitions were more likely read to the emperor if they were persuasive enough to impeach questionable and corrupt local officials from office. When petitions arrived to the throne , multiple copies were made of the original and stored with the Office of Supervising Secretaries before the original written petition
5782-416: The exorbitant cost of the energy, and failing, in general, to deal with the state's major problems until they get to the crisis stage. Opponents of the recall said the situation was more complicated for several reasons. The entire United States and many of its economic trading partners had been in an economic recession. California was hit harder than other states at the end of the speculative bubble known as
5880-432: The facts pleaded but plead new ones that would dispel their effect). A traverse could be general (deny everything) or specific. Either side could plead imparlance in order to get more time to plead on the merits. Once the case was at issue, the defendant could reopen the pleadings in order to plead a newly discovered defense (and start the whole sequence again) by filing a plea puis darrein. The result of all this complexity
5978-541: The fall of 2003 instead of March 2004 during the Democratic presidential primary election , when Democratic Party turnout would presumably be higher. The effort continued to gather signatures, but the recall was far from a sure thing and the proponents were short on cash to promote their cause. The movement took off when wealthy U.S. Representative Darrell Issa , a Republican representing San Diego, California, announced on May 6 that he would use his personal money to push
SECTION 60
#17327650739246076-411: The first governor of California whose opponents gathered the necessary signatures to qualify for a special election. Davis also faced a recall petition in 1999 but that effort failed to gain enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Davis's recall at the time was only the second gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. The first governor recall occurred in 1921, when North Dakota's Lynn J. Frazier
6174-442: The full vehicle license fee, and the action withstood legal challenge. The action was a key step in the plan to close the $ 38 billion shortfall in the 2003–2004 budget. The increase tripled the vehicle license fee for the average car owner, and began appearing in renewal notices starting August 1. The California state budget passed in late July 2003 included the projected $ 4 billion in increased vehicle license fee revenue. Proponents of
6272-434: The governor's office would have had to capitulate, as Davis did, in the absence of federal help. The George W. Bush administration rejected requests for federal intervention, responding that it was California's problem to solve. Still, subsequent revelations of corporate accounting scandals and market manipulation by some Texas-based energy companies, mainly Enron , did little to quiet the criticism of Davis's handling of
6370-416: The grounds that the existence of allegedly obsolete voting equipment in those six counties violated the equal protection constitutional guarantee, thus overruling the lower district court which had rejected this argument. Recall proponents questioned why punch-card ballots were adequate enough to elect Governor Davis, but were not good enough to recall him. Proponents planned to appeal the postponement to
6468-527: The harm to the plaintiff caused by the defendant was so outrageous that it must have either been intended as a malicious attack or, if not, must have been due to gross negligence. The use of "pleaded" versus "pled" as the past tense version of "pleading" has been a subject of controversy among many of those that practice law. "Pled" is almost never used in Australian publications, while being somewhat common in American, British, and Canadian publications. In
6566-399: The lost revenue they received from the license fee to support public safety and other local government activities. In total, 135 candidates qualified for the ballot for the October 7 recall election. Several of the candidates were prominent celebrities . In the election, only four candidates received at least 1% of the vote: The ballot consisted of two questions; voters could vote on one or
6664-493: The most popular statewide office-holding Democrat in California, who cited her own experience with a recall drive while she was mayor of San Francisco . Darrell Issa, who bankrolled the recall effort and had said he would run for governor, abruptly dropped out of the race on August 7 among accusations that he had bankrolled the recall effort solely to get himself into office. Issa claimed that Schwarzenegger's decision to run did not affect his decision and he dropped out because he
6762-433: The other, or on both. The first question asked whether Gray Davis should be recalled. It was a simple yes–no question , and if a majority voted no, then the second question would become irrelevant and Davis would remain California governor. If a majority voted yes, then Davis would be removed from office once the vote was certified, and the second question would determine his successor. Voters had to choose one candidate from
6860-461: The outcome of the recall was the perception that Davis had mismanaged the events leading up to the energy crisis. It was argued that he had not fought vigorously for Californians against the energy fraud, and that he had not pushed for legislative or emergency executive action against the fraudulent companies soon enough. He was said to have signed deals agreeing to pay energy companies fixed yet inflated prices for years to come based on those paid during
6958-490: The people of our state simply cannot risk a continuation of the Gray Davis legacy." Simon did not endorse any candidates at the time, but several weeks later he endorsed front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger, as did Darrell Issa, who had not filed for the race. On September 9, former MLB commissioner and Los Angeles Olympic Committee President Peter Ueberroth withdrew his candidacy in the recall election. On September 24,
7056-499: The pleading process. Most of the old common law pleadings were abolished. From now on, a case required only a complaint and an answer, with an optional cross-complaint and cross-answer, and with the demurrer kept as the standard attack on improper pleadings. Instead of piling layers and layers of pleadings and averments on top of each other, a pleading that was attacked by demurrer would either be completely superseded by an amended pleading or would proceed immediately "at issue" as to
7154-438: The polls. Apparently in response to her withdrawal, Bustamante endorsed her plan for public financing of election campaigns, an intended anti-corruption measure. On July 29, 2003, federal judge Barry Moskowitz ruled section 11382 of the California election code unconstitutional . The provision required that only those voters who had voted in favor of the recall could cast a vote for a candidate for governor. The judge ruled that
7252-400: The punch-card ballot problems. There was an estimate that up 40,000 voters in those heavily minority districts might be disenfranchised, if the election were not postponed to remedy the difficulty. His ruling was appealed, and heard by three judges in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals . On September 15, the judges issued a unanimous ruling postponing the recall election until March 2004, on
7350-448: The recall and urged Californians to vote against it. State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (a Democrat) announced on August 7 that he would be a candidate for governor. Just two days later and only hours before the deadline to file, he announced "I will not engage in this election as a candidate", adding "this recall election has become a circus". Garamendi had been under tremendous pressure to drop out from fellow Democrats who feared
7448-537: The remaining top five candidates (Schwarzenegger, Bustamante, Huffington, McClintock, and Camejo) gathered in the University Ballroom at California State University, Sacramento , for a live televised debate that resembled the red-carpet premiere of a movie in Hollywood . Schwarzenegger's marquee name attracted large crowds, a carnival atmosphere, and an army of hundreds of credentialed media from around
7546-472: The same party as the Governor, resisted certification of the recall signatures as long as possible. By mid-May, the recall organization was calling for funds to begin a lawsuit against Shelley, and publicly considered a separate recall effort for the Secretary of State (also an elected official in California). By July 23, 2003, recall advocates turned in over 110% of the required signatures, and on that date,
7644-467: The state of California. The legal issues still were not resolved in time to alleviate California's dire need for electricity, and the state instituted " rolling blackouts " and in some cases instituted penalties for excess energy use. In the recall campaign, Republicans and others opposed to Davis's governance sometimes charged that Davis did not "respond properly" to the crisis. Most economists disagreed, believing that Davis could do little else—and anyone in
7742-416: The statewide election results. Once the results were certified, a newly elected governor would have to be sworn into office within 10 days. Those Californians wishing to run for governor were given until August 9 to file. The requirements to run were relatively low and attracted a number of interesting and strange candidates. A California citizen needed only to gather 65 signatures from their own party and pay
7840-466: The two well-known moderates in the Republican primary. The result was that his opponent in the general election was conservative Republican and political newcomer Bill Simon , who was popular within his own party but unknown by the majority of the state population. The attacks from both sides turned off voters and suppressed turnout; Davis ultimately won with 47% of the vote. The suppressed turnout had
7938-553: The types of claims eligible for consideration was capped early during the development of the English legal system, claims that might have been acceptable to the courts' evolving sense of justice often did not match up perfectly with any of the established forms of action. Lawyers had to engage in great ingenuity to shoehorn their clients' claims into existing forms of action. The result was that at common law, pleadings were stuffed full of awkward legal fictions that had little to do with
8036-417: The validly pleaded parts. This meant that to determine what the parties were currently fighting about, a stranger to a case would no longer have to read the entire case file from scratch, but could (in theory) look only at the most recent version of the complaint filed by the plaintiff, the defendant's most recent answer to that complaint, and any court orders on demurrers to either pleading. Code pleading
8134-402: The vehicle license fee increase. On November 17, just after his inauguration, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-1-03, rescinding the vehicle license fee retroactive to October 1, 2003, when the fee increase went into effect. Analysts predicted that this would add more than $ 4 billion to the state deficit. Schwarzenegger did not indicate how cities and counties would be reimbursed for
8232-492: The world's most popular online petition platform with around 50 million registered users. Recent research by the sociocultural psychologist, Chana Etengoff, has highlighted the therapeutic benefits of petitioning including meaning-making, social action, agency and empowerment. Pleading In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement of one party's claims or defenses in response to another party's complaint(s) in
8330-463: The world. While the candidate and his staff rode on buses named Running Man and Total Recall , the reporters' buses were named after Predator . The aftermath of the debate was swift. On September 30, author Arianna Huffington withdrew her candidacy on the Larry King Live television program and announced that she was opposing the recall entirely in light of Schwarzenegger's surge in
8428-513: Was recalled over a dispute about state-owned industries, and was replaced by Ragnvald A. Nestos . A third gubernatorial recall election occurred in Wisconsin in 2012 which, unlike the previous two, failed. The 2003 recall was prompted by some actions taken by Davis and his predecessor, Governor Pete Wilson . Many people were upset with the governor's decision to block the enactment of Proposition 187 , which had been found unconstitutional by
8526-451: Was a special election permitted under California state law . It resulted in voters replacing incumbent Democratic Governor Gray Davis with Arnold Schwarzenegger , a Republican . The recall effort spanned the latter half of 2003. Seven of the nine previous governors, including Davis, had faced unsuccessful recall attempts. After several legal and procedural efforts failed to stop it, California's first-ever gubernatorial recall election
8624-483: Was assured that there were several strong candidates running in the recall. The San Francisco Chronicle claimed that Davis's attacks on Issa's "checkered past" and polls showing strong Republican support for Schwarzenegger caused Issa to withdraw. Former Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (a fellow Republican) agreed that only one of them would run; when Schwarzenegger announced on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno that he would be
8722-402: Was criticized because many lawyers felt that it was too difficult to fully research all the facts needed to bring a complaint before one had even initiated the action, and thus meritorious plaintiffs could not bring their complaints in time before the statute of limitations expired. Code pleading has also been criticized as promoting "hypertechnical reading of legal papers". Notice pleading
8820-413: Was held on October 7, and the results were certified on November 14, 2003, making Davis the first governor recalled in the history of California, and just the second in U.S. history (the first was North Dakota's 1921 recall of Lynn Frazier ). California is one of 19 states that allow recalls. Nearly 18 years after the 2003 election, California held a second recall election in 2021 ; however, that recall
8918-425: Was not adequately prepared. Schwarzenegger had repeatedly stated that he would not participate in such events until later in the election cycle. Prior to this first debate, Governor Davis spent 30 minutes answering questions from a panel of journalists and voters. Due to the media attention focused on some candidates, GSN held a game show debate entitled Who Wants to Be Governor of California? – The Debating Game ,
9016-463: Was revealed that the governor's technology adviser accepted a $ 25,000 campaign contribution shortly after the contract was signed. The money was returned, but the scandal fueled close scrutiny of Davis's fundraising for his 2002 re-election bid. In the 2002 primary election, Davis ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination. He spent his campaign funds on attack ads against California Secretary of State Bill Jones and Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan ,
9114-564: Was sent to the emperor. Inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire , as individuals and as groups, had the right to petition local representatives of the empire or to petition the sultan directly. In the capital city of Istanbul , a bureau influenced by the one that had existed in Byzantine Constantinople tracked and archived all petitions along with any annotations and administrative actions related to them. Beginning in
9212-540: Was that to ascertain what was "at issue" in a case, a stranger to the case (i.e., such as a newly appointed judge) would have to sift through a huge pile of pleadings to figure out what had happened to the original averments of the complaint and whether there was anything left to be actually adjudicated by the court. Code pleading was first introduced in 1850 in New York and in 1851 in California , and eventually spread to 26 other states. Code pleading sought to abolish
9310-666: Was the Great/People's Charter, or petition of the Chartists . The Petition Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of the people "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The right to petition has been held to include the right to file lawsuits against the government. Petitions are commonly used in the U.S. to qualify candidates for public office to appear on
9408-433: Was the only one authorized by the state to submit signatures. One committee "Recall Gray Davis Committee", organized by Republican political consultant Sal Russo and former Republican assemblyman Howard Kaloogian played a smaller role in drumming up support. Kaloogian served as chairman, Russo as chief strategist of the committee. After the recall both Kaloogian and Russo went on to found Move America Forward . By law,
9506-399: Was to be the second gubernatorial recall election in United States history and the first in the history of California . California's Constitution required that a recall election be held within 80 days of the date the recall petition was certified, or within 180 days if a regularly scheduled statewide election came within that time. Had the petition been certified at the deadline of September 2,
9604-483: Was unsuccessful, failing to oust Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom . The California recall process became law in 1911 as the result of Progressive Era reforms that spread across the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The ability to recall elected officials came along with the initiative and referendum processes. The movement in California was spearheaded by Republican Governor Hiram Johnson ,
#923076