certificate of merit
certificate of merit. A certificate, signed by the plaintiff’s attorney and filed with the complaint in a civil suit, declaring that the plaintiff’s attorney has conferred with at least one competent expert and afterward concluded that the suit has merit. • Many states have a law mandating certificates of merit in certain types of cases, such as professional malpractice. The law’s purpose is to weed out frivolous claims as early as possible. In those states, if a certificate is not filed with the complaint, the action is usu. dismissed. If the law requires the certificate to be signed under oath or penalty of perjury, it is sometimes called an affidavit of merit.
