Also known as: statements of fact · statement of the facts · SOF
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A party's written presentation of the facts leading up to or surrounding a legal dispute, usually recited toward the beginning of a brief or memorandum.
Sydney Santos prepared the statement of facts section of a memorandum for a buyer describing a commercial building's maintenance history. She listed recent repairs but omitted known structural issues that rendered the description incomplete. The buyer later discovered the defects and sued for fraud, with the court reviewing whether the statement of facts required additional disclosures to avoid misleading the recipient.
Seth Shapiro filed a complaint against a telecommunications company alleging a conspiracy to restrain trade. The statement of facts detailed parallel pricing patterns and prior industry meetings but contained no direct evidence of agreement. The court dismissed the action after determining that the statement of facts failed to raise the claim above the speculative level.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Sasha Stone, as plaintiff, submitted a brief challenging a state abortion statute. The statement of facts noted only that she was pregnant at filing without specifying the trimester. The court observed that this omission prevented any determination whether she remained in the first trimester throughout the litigation.
Stephen Shaw, counsel for a tugboat owner, included a statement of facts in his memorandum summarizing interviews with survivors of a sinking. Opposing counsel moved to compel production of the underlying witness statements. The court examined the statement of facts to assess whether it reflected protected attorney preparation for litigation.
Silverline Industries received a credit report from a reporting agency containing false statements about its financial stability. The company included those statements in the statement of facts section of its defamation complaint. The court assessed whether the statements qualified as protected speech or fell within an unprotected category based on the facts presented.
Sabrina Shah, a prominent local business owner, sued a publisher over an article accusing her of unethical practices. The statement of facts in her complaint described her community involvement and prior media coverage. The court used those facts to determine whether she qualified as a public figure for purposes of the actual malice standard.
It follows the brief answer and precedes the discussion section. The statement of facts supplies the background necessary for the reader to understand the legal analysis that follows.
Supporting sources
An agreed statement of facts is a narrative stipulated by the parties as correct and submitted to a tribunal for decision. A standard statement of facts is a unilateral presentation prepared by one party in a brief or memorandum.
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The statement of facts should include all facts relevant to the issues identified in the outline. Irrelevant details may be omitted, but enough background must be provided for the reader to follow the subsequent legal analysis.
Supporting sources
…rights of others. Moose Lodge v. Irvis , 407 U. S. 163 (1972); Sierra Club v. Morton , 405 U. S. 727 (1972). The Court's statement of facts in this case makes clear, however, that the record in no way indicates the presence of such a plaintiff. We know only that plaintiff Roe at the time of filing her complaint was a pregnant…