Also known as: evidentiary supports · evidentiary basis · evidentiary foundation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A requirement that factual contentions in pleadings, motions, or other court filings be backed by evidence or identified as likely to gain such support after reasonable investigation. The standard ensures that parties do not advance unsupported assertions that waste judicial resources or impose improper costs on opponents.
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Emily Ellis sued Empire Logistics for copyright infringement and sought statutory damages plus profits. Her attorney pleaded a specific dollar amount based only on unverified blog estimates and never checked whether Empire had sold the infringing item. The court found the damage allegation lacked evidentiary support under the certification rule and imposed sanctions.
Police arrested Esme Ellington for drug possession, handcuffed her, and placed her in a patrol car. Officers then searched the passenger compartment of her vehicle without any indication that evidence of the arrest offense remained inside. The search failed for lack of evidentiary support tying the compartment to the offense.
The city adopted a twenty-percent set-aside for minority contractors in public works after reviewing only general population statistics. Emmett Egan, a non-minority bidder, challenged the program. The court struck it down because the city supplied no strong evidentiary basis of identified past discrimination in the local contracting industry.
The government detained Evelyn Ellison as an enemy combatant and offered only a single declaration summarizing intelligence reports. The declaration contained no firsthand observations or specific facts linking Ellison to hostile forces. The court held the affidavit failed to supply sufficient evidentiary support for continued detention.
Edward Everett sued his state employer under the ADA after being denied a promotion. He offered only general testimony about other employees' accommodations and no data showing a pattern of discrimination by the state. The court dismissed the claim for lack of evidentiary support establishing a constitutional violation.
Elysium Media published a review stating that Equinox Energy's product performed poorly. At trial the jury found actual malice. On appeal the court independently examined the trial record and concluded the evidence supplied no evidentiary support for the finding that the publisher knew the statement was false.
The attorney must certify that the factual contentions have evidentiary support or are likely to have such support after reasonable investigation or discovery. A lawyer who pleads a specific numerical allegation based only on unverified secondhand sources risks sanctions if the sources prove inadequate.
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…to the capture of ... Hamdi and his detention by U. S. military forces." Ibid. Mobbs then set forth what remains the sole evidentiary support that the Government has provided to the courts for Hamdi's detention. The declaration states that Hamdi "traveled to Afghanistan" in July or August 2001, and that he thereafter "affiliated…
…expressed confidence that the United States and the black firefighters brought suit in good faith and that there was a strong evidentiary basis
…had not used its observation of the video as an excuse for replacing the rule of law with its ad hoc judgment. There is no evidentiary basis
…of rights under the Federal Constitution, this Court is not bound by the conclusions of lower courts, but will reexamine the
…384 U. S. 641, 652-656 (1966) (asking whether Congress' likely conclusions were reasonable, not whether there was adequate
A court may grant the motion only when the record contains no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to find for the nonmoving party on a given issue. The standard protects the jury's role while allowing the judge to remove claims that rest on speculation rather than evidence.
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Strict scrutiny demands a compelling interest supported by particularized evidence of past discrimination in the relevant industry and jurisdiction. General societal discrimination or mere statistical underrepresentation does not suffice. The program must be narrowly tailored to identified discrimination.
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The government must supply a declaration or other evidence that establishes the detainee's affiliation with hostile forces through specific facts rather than conclusory assertions. A bare summary of intelligence reports may be insufficient if it lacks firsthand observations or concrete links.
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