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 New Hampshire, an agreed case, also known as a case stated or stipulated facts case, is a legal procedure where the parties involved in a lawsuit concur on the underlying facts but differ on the legal implications or conclusions that should be drawn from 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 decision on the legal issues. This can expedite the resolution of the case and is particularly useful when the dispute centers on a point of law rather than factual discrepancies. When such a case is appealed, the agreed statement of facts is presented to the appellate court, which then reviews the legal conclusions without the necessity of a full trial record. This procedure is governed by the rules of civil procedure in New Hampshire and can be a cost-effective and time-saving approach for resolving legal disputes when both sides are in consensus regarding the facts of the case.