Complaint and Answer (Pleadings)

The documents that start a civil case and frame what it is about - what a complaint must contain, how a defendant answers it, what an admission, denial and affirmative defense each do, counterclaims and cross-claims, and what happens when a pleading is late, deficient or needs to be amended.

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What it means

A civil lawsuit begins with a complaint (in some states a petition): the plaintiff's written statement of who the parties are, why this court has jurisdiction, what the defendant did, and what the plaintiff wants. Modern rules require notice pleading rather than proof - a short and plain statement of the claim - but the facts alleged must, taken as true, make each claim plausible and not merely conceivable; a complaint that recites the elements of a claim without facts supporting them can be dismissed before the defendant ever answers. Claims of fraud and mistake must be pleaded with particularity. The complaint is filed with the court, which issues a summons, and the two are served on the defendant under the service rules; service, not filing, starts the defendant's clock.

The defendant's response is the answer, due within a period the rules fix from service. It goes through the complaint's numbered paragraphs admitting, denying, or stating that the defendant lacks knowledge sufficient to admit or deny each allegation - an allegation not denied is deemed admitted - and then sets out affirmative defenses: matters that defeat the claim even if the allegations are true, such as the statute of limitations, release, payment, accord and satisfaction, contributory or comparative fault, waiver, estoppel and res judicata. An affirmative defense not pleaded is generally waived, which is why answers list them generously. The answer may also assert a counterclaim against the plaintiff (compulsory if it arises from the same transaction, and lost if not raised), a cross-claim against a co-defendant, or a third-party complaint bringing in someone who may owe the defendant indemnity or contribution. Instead of answering, a defendant may first move to dismiss on grounds such as lack of jurisdiction, improper venue or failure to state a claim; certain of those defenses are waived if not raised in the first response.

A defendant who neither answers nor moves within the time allowed is in default, and the plaintiff may seek a default judgment. Pleadings can be amended: once freely at the outset, afterwards with the other side's consent or the court's leave, which the rules say should be given freely when justice requires, subject to the scheduling order and to the rule that an amendment adding a claim against a new party relates back to the original filing only in narrow circumstances. Every pleading, motion and other paper is signed by the lawyer or self-represented party, and the signature certifies that the filing is not for an improper purpose and that its contentions have evidentiary and legal support; a filing that violates that certification can result in sanctions after the target has had a chance to withdraw it. Pleadings define the case - discovery, summary judgment and trial are confined to the claims and defenses they contain - and an issue tried without objection is treated as if it had been pleaded.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

A person who has been served should get advice within days, not weeks, because the time to respond is short, an unanswered complaint becomes a default, and some defenses are lost if not raised in the very first filing. A plaintiff drafting a complaint without a lawyer should understand that the pleading standard is real: a complaint that names a wrong and asks for money, without facts showing each element of a recognized claim, invites a motion to dismiss and, on the third attempt, dismissal with prejudice. The pleadings also fix the claims for the life of the case, so what is left out at the start is expensive to add later.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

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Related terms

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• AppealThe review of a trial court's decision by a higher court - what can be appealed and when (the final-judgment rule and its exceptions), the notice of appeal and why missing it is fatal, what "standard of review" means and why most appeals are lost on it, preserving error at trial, the record and briefs, and what an appellate court can and cannot do with the result.
• Attorney-Client Privilege and Work ProductThe two protections that keep what a client tells a lawyer, and what a lawyer prepares for a case, from being forced into evidence - what the privilege covers and what it does not, who holds it and how it is waived, the crime-fraud exception, the separate and narrower work-product doctrine, and how each is asserted in discovery.
• Burden of Proof (Standards of Proof)Who has to prove what, and how convincingly, before a court will rule for them - the difference between the burden of production and the burden of persuasion, the three standards (preponderance of the evidence, clear and convincing evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt) and where each applies, presumptions that shift the burden, and why the burden decides cases where the evidence is in balance.
• Contempt of CourtThe court's power to punish disobedience of its own orders - the mechanism that makes a court order more than a piece of paper.
• Court Fee Waiver (In Forma Pauperis)How a person who cannot afford court filing fees asks the court to excuse them - the federal and state procedures, who usually qualifies, and what a waiver does not cover.
• Default JudgmentA judgment entered because the person sued did not respond in time - the way most consumer debt lawsuits actually end.
• DepositionSworn, recorded, out-of-court questioning of a witness by the opposing lawyer, before any trial.
• DiscoveryThe pre-trial process in which each side must hand over relevant evidence to the other.
• Expert Witness (Daubert and Frye)A witness allowed to give opinions rather than only facts because of specialized knowledge - who qualifies, the gatekeeping test a judge applies to the reliability of the method (Daubert in federal court and most states, Frye in the rest), the written report and deposition that precede trial, the difference between a retained expert and a treating professional, and why a case can be lost when its expert is excluded.
• Fee Agreement and RetainerThe engagement letter that sets what a lawyer will do and how they are paid - hourly, flat or contingent fees, retainers held in trust, costs, and what to do about a fee dispute.
• Injunction and Temporary Restraining OrderThe court orders that require a party to do or stop doing something rather than pay money - the three stages (temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, permanent injunction), the four-factor test for emergency relief, the bond the applicant must post, how an order is enforced through contempt, and why a violated order is obeyed first and challenged second.
• Jurisdiction and VenueThe three questions every lawsuit has to answer before its merits can be heard - whether the court has power over this kind of case (subject-matter jurisdiction), power over this defendant (personal jurisdiction), and whether this is the right place within the system to bring it (venue) - what each requires, how each is challenged, and why a judgment entered without jurisdiction is void.
• Limited-Scope Representation (Unbundled Legal Services)Hiring a lawyer for one defined part of a legal matter - advice, drafting a document, or a single hearing - instead of the whole case, and the written agreement that sets the boundary.
• Mediation and ArbitrationTwo ways of resolving a dispute outside a trial that are constantly confused - one produces an agreement you can walk away from, the other a decision you generally cannot appeal.
• Motion to DismissA request to end a case at the outset on the basis that, even if everything alleged is true, it does not amount to a legal claim.
• Pro Bono Legal HelpFree legal work by volunteer lawyers - what the professional rules ask of lawyers, how people of limited means are matched with a volunteer, and why it is not the same as legal aid.
• Release and Settlement AgreementThe document that ends a claim by giving up the right to bring it - normally final, and normally broader than people expect.
• Representing Yourself (Pro Se)The right to conduct your own case without a lawyer - available in almost every civil court, and held to almost the same standards as a lawyer.
• Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel (Preclusion)The rules that stop a dispute from being litigated twice - claim preclusion, which bars a second suit on a claim that was or could have been decided, and issue preclusion, which bars re-arguing a specific issue actually decided, the elements of each, who is bound, the exceptions, and why "could have been raised" is the part that surprises people.
• Service of ProcessThe formal delivery of court papers that gives a court power over the person sued - and the step whose failure undoes more judgments than any other.
• Small Claims CourtA simplified court for lower-value disputes, designed to be used without a lawyer - and in some states lawyers are not allowed in it at all.
• Statute of LimitationsA deadline, set by statute, after which a legal claim can no longer be brought at all.
• SubpoenaA court-backed order to give evidence or hand over documents - enforceable against people who are not parties to the case at all.
• Summary JudgmentA ruling that decides a case, or part of one, without a trial because the essential facts are not genuinely in dispute.

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