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 Ohio, an agreed case, also known as a case submitted upon an agreed statement of facts, 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. This process allows the parties to bypass the need for a trial to establish the facts and instead focus on the legal implications of those facts. When utilizing this procedure, the parties prepare a narrative statement of the agreed facts and submit this to the court. The court then makes a ruling based on the legal issues in question. If the decision of the court is appealed, the agreed statement of facts is sent directly to the appellate court, which could be the court of appeals, instead of the usual trial court record. This method streamlines the appellate review process since the facts are not in dispute, and the appellate court's review is confined to the application of the law.