You must answer a complaint in time or you will lose by default. Our
members know this but for those of you who do not, this guide should be
helpful.
First, it's really not a good idea to write an answer in pen at the
court house unless you waited to the last day and have no choice. The
acceptable approach is to type the caption* (similar to how your
adversary typed his complaint) on your PC and then break down your
answer into 3 or 4 parts.
You need to answer each numbered question in sequence and generally your
answers should be:
a) Admits;
b) Denies; or
c) Defendant is without sufficient information and leaves Plaintiff to
his proof.
Generally c) is a good option because you have not committed yourself or
given any solid information your adversary can shoot you down with.
The second part you need is affirmative defenses. If you do not have a
good list of them use the following because it will generally cover 90%
of all possibilities -- and most often in the law, if you do not claim a
right you lose it and affirmative defenses represent that claim. List on
separate lines the standard affirmative defenses which include:
1) latches, 2) Pari Delicto, 3) unclean hands, 4) failure to state a
claim, 5) violation of statute, 6) failure to name all necessary
parties, 7) insufficiency or defect of service, 8) lack of jurisdiction,
9) accord and satisfaction, 10) fraud, 11) statute of limitations and/or
other time limitations, 12) bad faith acts of omissions and/or
negligence, 13) Failure to comply with applicable regulations, 14)
failure to comply with applicable state or federal law and 15) estopple
or collateral estopple.
The third part, if you have a valid counterclaim or third-party claim,
now is the time to make it. In most jurisdictions if you do not do so at
the time of your answer, when you generally have the right as a matter
of law (check your jurisdiction) -- you will not likely get the court to
grant permission to you on motion later when your adversary can oppose
the motion -- and many courts are unfriendly to pro se parties. Finally,
after putting your draft answer in the best shape possible, print it out
in double or triple space and take it to an attorney.
Our Approved Legal Advisors (Attorneys) charge only $75 hour to our
members for advice, comments and edit and they are definitely above
average members of the bar. Then retype and serve and file as per the
rules for the particular court.
We at the APSA Association emphasize it is most im****tant to have an
attorney review and edit your papers prior to filing. I have answered
many complaints and I always have an attorney review my papers before
filing -- one reason why I have never lost as a defendant.
* Caption: This is the first page format of court papers and usually has
at the top left corner the full name, firm, address and telephone number
of the law firm producing that paper. If you are Pro Se, you will put
your full name and so forth. The second part consists of the Plaintiff
v. Defendant and the court in which the case is being tried with its
docket number and the subject of the particular paper such as:
complaint, notice of motion, affidavit and so forth.
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