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 Massachusetts, an agreed case, also known as a case stated or a stipulated facts case, is a legal procedure where both parties in a lawsuit concur on the facts but differ on the legal implications of 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 for a legal ruling. The purpose is to obtain a judicial determination of the legal questions based on the undisputed facts. When such a case is appealed, the narrative statement of agreed facts is presented to the appellate court, which could be the Massachusetts Appeals Court or the Supreme Judicial 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 presented. The use of an agreed case is governed by the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure and relevant case law, and it is typically used in situations where a trial would not be necessary because the material facts are not in dispute.