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 Hawaii, an agreed case, also known as a case submitted on an agreed statement of facts, is a legal procedure where the disputing parties concur on the factual aspects of the case but seek a judicial determination on the legal questions involved. This process allows the parties to bypass the need for a trial to establish the facts and instead present 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 make a ruling. If the decision of the court is appealed, the agreed statement of facts is transmitted to the appellate court. This appellate court, which is often the Intermediate Court of Appeals in Hawaii, will review the case based on the stipulated facts rather than the trial court record. This procedure is relatively uncommon and is typically used in situations where the legal issue is clear-cut and the parties seek a swift resolution without the complexities of a full trial.