Who must conduct civil litigation in good faith, and does that duty reach anyone other than the parties filing the papers?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the exercise file, we read the powers of attorney and representative papers to see who acts for each party, the list of persons appearing in the case record, and any filing signed by a witness or expert witness, since each shows whether the person is a party or a litigation participant the provision speaks of.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the duty as written: parties and litigation participants must conduct the litigation faithfully in accordance with good faith, so the duty attaches to parties and litigation participants, not only to those who file the papers, and it governs how the whole proceeding is carried on.
Another reading notes that the provision names the actors and states the standard, but leaves open what counts as a litigation participant and what follows when that standard is not met, so neither the file nor this provision tells which acts would breach it or what consequence the court would draw.
Your judgment
When a person signs a paper in a case but holds no power of attorney, what in the file would show whether that person is a litigation participant bound by the duty?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to name or exclude categories of litigation participants, or if a court decision defines who counts as a litigation participant and what conduct falls short of the good-faith standard.