Rules of the UAP Court

These Rules apply to all cases heard before the Court of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, which may be referred to as the "UAP Court." The Rules are intended to secure a full and fair adjudication of disputed matters between the "Believers" and the "Debunkers" within the UAP Community. 

Cases before the UAP Court are administered by the Court Administrator.  All case filings, requests for case initiation, or other case-related inquiries shall be submitted, along with any attachments, to admin@uapcourt.com. Case filings will be uploaded to the case's docket page and the Court Administrator will give notice to all participants of the filing. 

Participants shall be respectful toward each other and the tribunal. All documents filed with or by the UAP Court shall state in the header and footer: "This document is for entertainment purposes only. This is not an official document." 

(a) Cases may be initiated sua sponte, from time to time. In such cases, the UAP Court shall prepare the initial pleadings described in Rule 7.  

(b) Any person who seeks an adjudication of a UAP event from the UAP Court shall submit a request including:

1. a brief description of the dispute;
2. whether they are a Believer or Debunker with respect to the UAP event; 
3. why the dispute deserves adjudication;
4. an affirmation of their intent to serve as Lead Advocate under Rule 5;
5. their qualifications to serve as Lead Advocate, which shall include a statement of the amount of time they have the ability to commit to the case. 

(c) After a case has been initiated, it shall be assigned a case number. Case numbers will follow the format, YYYY-ZZZZ, where "YYYY" represents the four-digit year in which the case was initiated and "ZZZZ" represents the ordinal number of the case for that year, e.g., "2023-0001." 

(d) Cases may be initiated by, or on behalf of, the Believers, seeking to establish the veracity of an alleged UAP event, or by, or on behalf of, the Debunkers, seeking to debunk it.  Whoever initiates the case will be known as the "Petitioner." Whoever did not initiate the case will be known as the "Respondent." 

(a) In all cases, the Petitioner and the Respondent shall be represented by a Lead Advocate. The Lead Advocate shall be responsible for all filings in the case, as set forth in Rule 2. The Court Administrator may appoint Co-Advocates, to whom the Lead Advocate may delegate the Lead Advocate's case responsibilities. 

(b) When a case is initiated under Rule 4(a), the UAP Court shall give notice of the case to the UAP Community and solicit participants to serve as the Lead Advocate for the Petitioner and the Respondent. 

(c) When a case is accepted under Rule 4(b), the person who submitted the request shall be the Lead Advocate for the Petitioner. The UAP Court shall give notice of the case to the UAP Community and solicit participants to serve as the Lead Advocate for the Respondent, as well as additional participants for the Petitioner.  

(d) Any person wishing to serve as a Lead Advocate shall submit their request to the UAP Court in the time prescribed by the notice described in Rule 5(c), including the case number, the information described in Rule 4(b)(4)-(5), and any other information in support of their bid. Preference will be given to individuals with legal experience. 

(a) Except as provided for under Rule 6(d), each case shall be presided over by a judge or panel of three (3) judges, who shall be current or former judges or attorneys. Judges shall be appointed at the sole discretion of the UAP Court after Lead Advocate have been selected under Rule 5. 

(b) The judge(s) shall be responsible for:

1. presiding over the summary judgment hearing;
2. determining whether sufficient evidence exists on the summary judgment record to allow the case to proceed to a jury trial; and
3. if necessary, presiding over the trial and making rulings on the admission of evidence.

(c) The judges may, in their discretion:

1. conduct an initial scheduling conference to determine case deadlines; 
2. hold evidentiary hearings before the trial; 
3. make reports to the Court Administrator; and
4. enter such other pretrial orders, as necessary, to manage the case, such as page or file size limitations for summary judgment briefs.

(d) Judges may be removed from cases, upon ten (10) days notice by the Court Administrator to the Lead Advocates, copying said judge, for failure to meet deadlines contained in these Rules. When a judge has been removed or voluntarily withdrawn from a case, the Court Administrator will appoint a new judge or enter an order declaring a mistrial within twenty-one (21) days. 

(a) The initial pleading in each case, whether initiated by Believers or Debunkers, shall be called the "Original Petition." The Respondent's first pleading shall be called the "Answer." 

(b) In cases initiated under Rule 4(a), the Lead Advocate for the Petitioner(s) shall serve an Amended Petition by the date established by the UAP Court, which shall be no sooner than 21 days after the Lead Advocates have been selected. The Lead Advocate for the Respondents shall then have 21 days to amend their Answer. 

(c) In cases initiated under Rule 4(b), the Lead Advocate shall be responsible for filing the Original Petition within 21 days after the Lead Advocates have been selected. The Lead Advocate for the Respondents shall then have 21 days to file their Answer. 

(d) The pleadings filed under Rule 7(b) may be amended once, without leave from the judge(s). The pleadings filed under Rule 7(c) may be amended twice without leave from the judge(s). 

(a) Any person who sought consideration for the position of Lead Advocate but who is not selected, or otherwise notifies the Court Administrator of their desire to participate in the case, will be considered a participant for either the Petitioner or Respondent, as the case may be, until such time as the participant requests removal from the case. 

(b) The Court Administrator shall give notice to all participants in each case of any case filing or orders made regarding the time for the summary judgment hearing or trial. 

(c) The Lead Advocates shall give due consideration to all input received from other case participants on their side of the case docket. If the number of participants makes this impractical, Lead Advocates may appoint one or more participants to review submissions from other participants.   

(d) The obligations under Rule 8(c) may be relaxed or eliminated upon a showing of good cause by the Lead Advocate. 

At least fourteen (14) days before any summary judgment hearing is held, the Court Administrator shall give notice to the UAP Community of the filings that will be presented to the judge for consideration. Any person wishing to present the judge with additional information shall submit the information to the Court Administrator at least seven (7) days before the summary judgment hearing. Such submissions will be forwarded to the applicable Lead Advocate, who shall make the sole determination over whether to file a supplement to the summary judgment record. 

(a) After the parties have had an opportunity to gather their evidence and make amendments to the pleadings, either party may make a motion to the judge, together with supporting evidence, showing that there is no genuine dispute of material fact and that the case may be resolved without need for trial. 

(b) The non-moving party shall file a responsive brief, together with all evidence tending to show the existence of a genuine dispute of material fact, within twenty-one (21) days of receiving any motion filed under Rule 10(a). 

(c) Within thirty (30) days of receiving notice from the Court Administrator that the procedures in Rule 9 have been complied with, the judge shall either: 

1. inform the Court Administrator that the motion has been granted or denied; or 
2. schedule a hearing on the motion, at which the judge shall either grant or deny the motion. 

(d) If the motion is granted under Rule 10(c)(1), the judge shall send the Court Administrator a written statement containing the reasoning for the decision by the time frame set forth therein. If the motion is granted after hearing under Rule 10(c)(2), the judge shall sent this written statement within fourteen (14) days. 

(e) If the judge denies the moving party's summary judgment motion, the judge must either: 

1. grant summary judgment sua sponte for the non-moving party, where appropriate, and send a written statement containing the reasoning for the decision to the Court Administrator within fourteen (14) days; or
2. request that the Court Administrator schedule a trial. 

(a) All hearings and trials conducted in any case before the UAP Court shall be conducted by video conferencing platform and shall be streamed live to the public. 

(b) The judge has complete and sole discretion over the manner by which evidence is presented, including but not limited to whether to allow hearsay evidence. 

(c) In appropriate cases, trials may be conducted before a jury. Following a jury trial, the judge shall prepare and sign a written judgment based on the jury's factual findings. 

(a) Judgments of the UAP Court are not appealable. Whether on summary judgment or after a bench or jury trial, the judge's decision shall be the final judgment of the UAP Court.  

(b) The participants to the case, by so participating, agree that they will respect the UAP Court's judgments in their online discussions and real-world advocacy about UAP.  

(c) After the UAP Court has made a judgment about a particular case, it may be re-tried, once, upon a showing of compelling physical evidence.