Title 7, Judiciary and Civil Procedure

The clerk of the court must endorse on the complaint the day, month and year that it is filed, and at any time within one year thereafter the plaintiff may have the summons issued, and if the action be brought against two or more defendants, for each at the same time. But at any …

If the summons is returned without being served on any or all of the defendants, or if it has been lost, the clerk, upon the demand of the plaintiff, may issue an alias summons in the same form as the original, and within COL372014 such time as the original may have been served i…

In an action affecting the title or the right of possession of real property, the plaintiff, at the time of filing the complaint, and the defendant, at the time of filing an answer, when affirmative relief is claimed in such answer, or at any time afterwards, may record in the De…

The summons may be served by any peace officer where the defendant is found, or by any other person over the age of eighteen (18) not a party to the action. A copy of the complaint must be served, with the summons, upon each of the defendants. When the summons is served by a peac…

The summons must be served by delivering a copy thereof as follows: (a) If the suit is against a domestic corporation, to the president or other head of the corporation, a vice president, a secretary, an assistant secretary, general manager, or a person designated for service of …

(a) Where the person on whom service is to be made has departed from Guam, and cannot, after due diligence, be found in Guam, or conceals himself to avoid the service of summons, or is a corporation having no officer or other person upon whom service may be served, or who, after …

Where the actions is against two or more defendants jointly or severally liable on a contract, and the summons is served on one or more, but not on all of them, the plaintiff may proceed against the defendants served in the same manner as if they were the only defendants. SOURCE:…

From the time of the service of the summons and of a copy of the complaint in a civil action, where service of a copy of the complaint is required, or of the completion of the publication when service by publication is ordered, the court is deemed to have acquired jurisdiction of…

A court of this Territory may exercise jurisdiction on any basis not inconsistent with the Organic Act or the Constitution of the United States. SOURCE: CCP § 417 added by P.L. 18-17:45 (10/5/85). Taken directly from Calif. CCP § 410.10. COMMENT: “Section 410.10 (this section) pe…

Parent-Child Relationships. In a suit affecting the parent-child relationship, the courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over a person on whom service of citation is required or over the person's personal representative, although the person is not a resident or domiciliary of…

In an action for divorce, a complaint must set forth, for the statistics required to be collected by the Office of Vital Statistics, among other matters as near as can be ascertained the following facts: (a) The state or country in which the parties were married. (b) The date of …

Claiming Exemption Must Set Up. In an action to recover upon a contract of insurance wherein the defendant claims exemption from liability upon the ground that, although the proximate cause of the loss was a peril insured against, the loss was remotely caused by or would not have…

Deemed Genuine. When an action is brought upon a written instrument, and the complaint contains a copy of such instrument, or a copy is annexed thereto, the genuineness and due execution of such instrument are deemed admitted, unless the answer denying the same be verified. (If t…

COL9192018 When the defense to an action is founded upon a written instrument, and a copy thereof is contained in the answer, or is annexed thereto, the genuineness and due execution of such instrument are deemed admitted, unless the plaintiff files with the clerk, within ten (10…

But the execution of the instrument mentioned in the two preceding sections is not deemed admitted by a failure to deny the same under oath, if the party desiring to controvert the same is, upon demand, refused an inspection of the original. Such demand must be in writing, served…

In the construction of a pleading, for the purpose of determining its effect, its allegations must be liberally construed, with a view to substantial justice between the parties. SOURCE: CCP § 452. COL9192018

In an action for the recovery of real property it must be described in the complaint with such certainty as to enable an officer, upon execution, to identify it. SOURCE: CCP § 455.

In an action for libel or slander, it is not necessary to state in the complaint any extrinsic facts for the purpose of showing the application to the plaintiff of the defamatory matter out of which the cause of action arose; but it is sufficient to state generally that the same …

In the actions mentioned in the last section the defendant may, in his answer, allege both the truth of the matter charged as defamatory and any mitigating circumstances, to reduce the amount of damages, and whether he proves the justification or not, he may give in evidence the …

COL9192018 When the plaintiff is ignorant of the name of a defendant, he must state that fact in the complaint, and such defendant may be designated in any pleading or proceeding by any name, and when his true name is discovered, the pleading or proceeding must be amended accordi…

The court must, in every stage of an action, disregard any error, improper ruling, instruction, or defect, in the pleadings or proceedings which, in the opinion of said court, does not affect the substantial rights of the parties. No judgment, decision or decree shall be reversed…

This Act may be cited as the Volunteer Protection Act of 1999.

For purposes of this Act: (a) Economic loss shall mean any pecuniary loss resulting from harm, including the loss of earnings or other benefits related to employment, medical expense loss, replacement services loss, loss due to death, burial costs, and loss of business or employm…

Unless otherwise provided by law, no volunteer of a nonprofit organization or governmental entity shall be liable for harm caused by an act or omission of the volunteer on behalf of the organization or entity if: (a) the volunteer was acting within the scope of the volunteer’s re…

Volunteers. As a general rule, punitive damages may not be awarded against a volunteer in an action brought for harm based on the action of a volunteer acting within the scope of the volunteer’s responsibilities to a nonprofit organization or governmental entity, unless the claim…

In any civil action against a volunteer based on an action of a volunteer acting within the scope of the volunteer’s responsibility to a nonprofit organization or governmental entity, the liability of the volunteer for non-economic loss shall be determined in accordance with § 16…

Each defendant, who is a volunteer, shall be liable only for the amount of non-economic loss allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to the percentage of responsibility of that defendant for the harm to the claimant with respect to which the defendant is liable. The cour…

This Act applies to any claim for harm caused by an act or omission of a volunteer where that claim is filed on or after the effective date of this Act, but only if the harm that is the subject of the claim or the conduct that caused such harm occurred after such effective date. …

This Chapter may be cited as the ‘Citizen Participation in Government Act of 1998.@

(a) Findings. I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Guam Legislature] finds and declares that: (1) the framers of the United States Constitution, recognizing citizen participation in government as an inalienable right essential to the survival of democracy, secured its protection through th…

As used in this Chapter: (a) AGovernment’ includes a branch, department, agency, instrumentality, official, employee, agent or other person acting under color of law of the United States, a State, a Territory, or a subdivision of a State or Territory, including municipalities and…

Acts in furtherance of the Constitutional rights to petition, including seeking relief, influencing action, informing, communicating and otherwise participating in the processes of government, shall be immune from liability, regardless of intent or purpose, except where not aimed…

This Chapter applies to any motion to dispose of a claim in a judicial proceeding on the grounds that the claim is based on, relates to or is in response to any act of the moving party in furtherance of the moving party's rights as described in § 17104.

On the filing of any motion as described in § 17105: (a) the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment: (1) the trial court shall use a time period appropriate to preferred or expedited motions; and (2) the moving party shall have a right of expedited appeal from a tria…

Nothing in this Chapter shall limit or preclude any rights the moving party may have under any other constitutional, statutory, case or common law, or rule provisions.

This Chapter shall be construed liberally to effectuate its purposes and intent fully.

If any provision of this Chapter or the application of any provision of this Chapter to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances and the remainder of this Chapter shall not be affected thereby. ---------- COL1…

COL121007 No person can be arrested in a civil action, except as prescribed in this Title. SOURCE: CCP § 478.

The defendant may be arrested, as hereinafter prescribed, in the following cases: 1. In an action for the recovery of money or damages on a cause of action arising upon contract, express or implied, when the defendant is about to depart from Guam with intent to defraud his credit…

An order for the arrest of the defendant must be obtained from a judge of the court having jurisdiction. SOURCE: CCP § 480.

The order may be made whenever it appears to the judge, by the affidavit of the plaintiff, or some other person, that a sufficient cause of action exists, and that the case is one of those mentioned in § 20102. The affidavit must be positive and not merely upon information and be…

COL121007 Before making the order, the judge must require a written undertaking on the part of the plaintiff, with sureties in an amount to be fixed by the judge, which must be at least five hundred dollars ($500.00), to the effect that the plaintiff will pay all costs which may …

The order may be made at the time of the issuing of the summons, or at any time afterwards before judgment. It must require the Director of Public Safety forthwith to arrest him and hold him to bail in a specified sum, and to return the order at a time therein mentioned, to the c…

The order of arrest, with a copy of the affidavit upon which it is made, must be delivered to the Chief of Police, who, upon arresting the defendant, must deliver to him a copy of the affidavit, and also, if desired, a copy of the order of arrest. SOURCE: CCP § 484.

The Chief of Police must execute the order by arresting the defendant and keeping him in custody until discharged by law. SOURCE: CCP § 485.

The defendant, at any time before execution, must be discharged from the arrest, either upon giving bail or upon depositing the amount mentioned in the order of arrest. SOURCE: CCP § 486.