An agreed case is a procedure that can be used in rare situations in which the parties to a lawsuit agree on the facts and disagree on the relevant law as applied to the facts. In such a case the parties stipulate to the facts, file a narrative statement of the agreed facts, and submit the case to the court for a ruling.
If a case submitted on an agreed statement of facts is appealed, the narrative statement of facts stipulated to by the parties is filed with the appellate court (often the court of appeals) rather than the trial court record (a transcript of the trial that includes witness testimony and documents admitted in evidence).
In Connecticut, an agreed case, also known as a case stated or stipulated facts case, is a legal procedure where all parties involved in a lawsuit concur on the factual aspects of the case but seek a judicial determination on the legal questions presented by those facts. This process allows the parties to bypass the need for a trial to establish the facts and instead submit a narrative statement of the agreed facts directly to the court. The court's role is then to apply the law to these facts and render a decision. If the decision of the court is appealed, the narrative statement of agreed facts is presented to the appellate court, which may be the Connecticut Appellate Court or the Connecticut Supreme Court, depending on the case. This agreed statement replaces the trial court record, which would typically include a transcript of the trial proceedings and the evidence submitted. The use of an agreed case can expedite the legal process and is particularly useful when the dispute centers on a point of law rather than on factual disagreements.