![]() ![]() ![]() The Virginia Supreme Court first noted the limitation on the use of motions craving oyer in 1895, when it limited oyer to the production of “deeds and letters of probate and administration” and not just any written document mentioned in the complaint. Motions craving oyer have a muddled history in Virginia that has led to a lot of confusion regarding appropriate uses. City of Alexandria a couple of months ago, it wasn’t altogether clear that this was a legitimate practice. Until the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision in Byrne v. Sometimes a defendant knows there are provisions in the contract that are inconsistent with the plaintiff’s allegations, so it can be helpful to require the actual agreement to be incorporated into the terms of the complaint. The most common application over the years has been to use a motion craving oyer to demand production of a written contract in situations where a plaintiff files a breach of contract action but fails to include a copy of the contract. If oyer is granted, the instrument becomes part of the complaint and a defendant can proceed to file other responsive pleadings that may be appropriate. ![]() These motions can be useful when a defendant may have defenses to a lawsuit that aren’t apparent without examining the instrument in question. Motions craving oyer should be granted, however, only where the missing documents are essential to the claim. “When a court is asked to make a ruling on any paper or record, it is its duty to require the pleader to produce all material parts.” ( Culpeper National Bank v. It’s based on the idea that a court can’t rule intelligently on a claim without having the opportunity to see all essential documents upon which the claim is based. To “crave oyer” is simply to demand production of a written instrument when a plaintiff files a lawsuit based on that instrument but fails to attach a copy to the complaint. In today’s blog post, I’m going to tell you about a fun little motion we call a “motion craving oyer.”Ī motion craving oyer sounds a lot more exotic than it is. Where a lawyer might file a motion to dismiss in some states, here we file a “ demurrer” or a “ plea in bar.” Rather than move for a directed verdict or judgment as a matter of law at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence at trial, we make a “ motion to strike.” Until relatively recently, we weren’t even initiating lawsuits with complaints we were filing “ motions for judgment” instead. One of the delightful aspects of practicing law in Virginia is that we still get to use antiquated legal terms that most states stopped using a century or so ago. ![]()
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