The Illustrative Forms
The advisory committee submitted proposed revisions to Illustrative Forms 1 through 35 (to become Forms 1 through 82) contained in the Appendix of Forms to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure with a recommendation that they be approved and transmitted to the Judicial Conference. * * *
The Illustrative Forms have not been revised or updated in many years. The advisory committee applied the same style conventions and principles to the forms as was used with the restyled rules. It declined to make changes to the substance of the forms, consistent with its style-project policy, even though some of the forms represent approaches to pleading and other submissions that may not be consistent with current practices. For example, the “complaint” forms call for allegations that are far briefer than are commonly found in cases filed in the district courts. Similarly, the advisory committee did not change the choice of examples in the forms; the “negligence complaint” form continues to use the example of an automobile striking a pedestrian.
The forms have been reorganized and grouped by subject area. The revised forms place “special” forms as Forms 1–9; “complaint” forms as Forms 10–21,[;] “answer” forms as Forms 31–31 [sic]; “motions” forms as Forms 40–42; “discovery” forms as Forms 50–52; “condemnation” forms as Forms 60–61; “judgment” forms as Forms 70–71; and forms for “assignment to magistrate judges” as Forms 80–82.
The pleading dates in the forms were eliminated and a uniform blank date was substituted. Explanatory Notes were also eliminated, because the forms are intended to stand on their own as simple and brief illustrations.
