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 Pennsylvania, an agreed case, also known as a case stated or stipulated facts case, is a legal procedure where both parties in a lawsuit 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, thereby focusing solely on the legal issues at hand. The parties prepare a joint narrative statement of the agreed facts and submit this, along with their legal arguments, to the court. The court then makes a ruling based on the stipulated facts and applicable law. If either party decides to appeal the decision, the narrative statement of agreed facts is submitted to the appellate court. This replaces the need for a full trial record, as there was no trial to transcribe. The appellate court reviews the case based on the agreed upon record and the legal arguments presented.