TITLE THREE — PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS
Rule 8. General Rules of Pleading
Claims for Relief. A pleading which sets forth a claim for relief, whether an original claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim shall contain (1) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, and (2) a demand for judgment for the relief to which he deems himself entitled. Relief in the alternative or of several different types may be demanded. The pleading shall further contain:
a short and plain statement of the grounds of the court’s jurisdiction, and of the county in which venue lies under 7 R. Stat. §§ 131.001 through 131.003;
Defenses: Form of Denials. A party shall state in short and plain terms his defenses to such claim asserted and shall admit or deny the averments upon which the adverse party relies. If he is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of an averment, he shall so state and this has the effect of a denial. Denials shall fairly meet the substance of the averments denied. When a pleader intends in good faith to deny only a part or a qualification of an averment, he shall specify so much of it as is true and material and shall deny only the remainder. Unless the pleader intends in good faith to controvert all the averments of the preceding pleading, he may make his denials as specific denials of designated averments or paragraphs, or he may generally deny all the averments except such designated averments or paragraphs as he expressly admits; but, when he does so intend to controvert all its averments, he may do so by general denial subject to the obligations set forth in Rule 11.
Affirmative Defenses.
In pleading to a preceding pleading, a party shall set forth affirmatively accord and satisfaction, arbitration and award, assumption of risk, contributory negligence, discharge in bankruptcy, duress, estoppel, failure of consideration, fraud, illegality, injury by fellow servant, laches, license, payment, release, res judicata, statute of frauds, statute of limitations, waiver, and any other matter constituting an avoidance or affirmative defense.
A party shall further set forth affirmatively:
sovereign immunity, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.002;
that the party is sued in an official capacity and the proceeding is therefore against the government, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.004;
qualified immunity, subject to Rule 8(7)(4);
the immunity of a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in a judicial capacity, subject to the limitation stated in 7 R. Stat. § 121.403;
a settlement accepted on behalf of the government by the Solicitor General under 7 R. Stat. § 122.006;
consent, and legal authority or justification, where the claim is one of assault, battery, false imprisonment, trespass, or trover;
that the statute or administrative policy relied upon in a claim of negligence per se was not intended to prevent the injury suffered, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 121.302(a);
failure to mitigate damages, superseding cause, and the absence of any duty of care; and
the statutory maximum applicable to any item of damages demanded.
A defense not set forth affirmatively in the responsive pleading is waived, except as Rule 12(8) otherwise provides and except that the court may for good cause permit a defense to be raised by amended pleading.
If a party mistakenly designates a defense as a counterclaim, or a counterclaim as a defense, the court shall, if justice requires, treat the pleading as though it were correctly designated, and may impose terms for doing so.
Effect of Failure to Deny. Averments in a pleading to which a responsive pleading is required, other than those as to the amount of damage, are admitted when not denied in the responsive pleading. Averments in a pleading to which no responsive pleading is required or permitted shall be taken as denied or avoided.
Pleading to Be Concise and Direct; Consistency.
Each averment of a pleading shall be simple, concise, and direct. No technical forms of pleading or motions are required.
A party may set forth two or more statements of a claim or defense alternatively or hypothetically, either in one count or defense or in separate counts or defenses. When two or more statements are made in the alternative and one of them if made independently would be sufficient, the pleading is not made insufficient by the insufficiency of one or more of the alternative statements.
A party may state as many separate claims or defenses as he has, regardless of consistency. Inconsistency between counts or between defenses is not a ground for dismissal or for a motion to strike, and no admission is drawn from one count or defense for the purpose of defeating another.
Claims Against the Government; the Solicitor General.
The state government, the county government, the municipal government, and their agencies and departments are immune from all claims except those established by statute and those in which liability is expressly created against the government, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.002. A pleading asserting a claim against the government shall identify the statute that creates the liability asserted.
A proceeding against an individual in an official capacity as an agent of the government is a case against the government, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.004. An action for official misconduct under 7 R. Stat. § 121.404 proceeds in a quasi-official capacity, the defendant being named in an official capacity, with monetary damages payable by the defendant in an individual capacity.
The Solicitor General shall defend all proceedings against government officers in their official capacities, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.005, and may intervene on behalf of the government under 7 R. Stat. § 122.007. Where the Solicitor General inter-venes or appears, the appearance shall be entered under Rule 11(2).
The Solicitor General may refuse to defend an agent of the government who was clearly acting in an individual capacity, or in a capacity not in line with the laws, directives, orders, policies, or standard operating procedures of the government and its agencies, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.008. Where the Solicitor General refuses to defend:
qualified immunity shall not be a valid affirmative defense, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.009, and a qualified immunity defense pleaded before the refusal shall be stricken on motion or on the court’s own initiative;
the action shall be considered to be against the individual capacity of the defendant where the claim is one of official misconduct, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 121.404(d);
where the torts alleged are those of 7 R. Stat. § 122.101, the Solicitor General shall provide the relief requested within the bounds of statute and the Constitution, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.010, and the court shall dismiss with prejudice every claim in which the relief so requested is provided, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.011; and
the agent shall be liable for the equitable offenses in his official capacity, and the government shall cease to be a party and to have an interest in the case, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.012.
A refusal to defend shall be stated in a notice filed by the Solicitor General, which shall identify each defendant and each claim as to which the refusal is made and the ground of the refusal under 7 R. Stat. § 122.008.
Demand for Relief; Statutory Maxima.
A demand for judgment shall state separately each item of compensatory damages, each item of punitive damages, and each form of injunctive or declaratory relief sought.
A demand for punitive damages shall not exceed the maximum prescribed by the statute creating the tort. A demand for damages against the government shall not exceed eight thousand dollars ($8,000.00) in compensatory damages and five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) in punitive damages, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.003, except that this limitation has no effect over claims involving persons in their official capacity where statute permits the court to assess damages against a defendant in an individual capacity.
No pleading shall demand, and no court shall grant, injunctive relief in the form of an apology, a letter of regret, or an expression of repentance, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 122.001.
A demand for relief in excess of what the law allows does not render the pleading insufficient; the court shall grant the relief to which the party is entitled, whether or not demanded, and shall disregard the excess.
Identification of Parties.
Every pleading shall identify each party by the username of that party’s account. A legal name, a character name, an in-game name, a rank, or a title may be pleaded in addition, but never in substitution for the username.
A party who is an organization, agency, or department shall be identified by its name and, where it acts through an account, by that account’s username.
A party whose username is unknown to the pleader may be designated as John Doe, with a description sufficient to permit identification. In an action for abuse of process the plaintiff shall seek a subpoena for the complaint in full and shall name a defendant before trial, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 121.402(c). In every other action the pleader shall substitute the username upon learning it, by amended pleading, and the court may dismiss a claim against a party who remains unidentified at the close of the period fixed by Rule 6(1).
A named party who has no account with the electronic filing system is recorded by that system as a placeholder account. Such a record establishes nothing as to that person’s capacity, residence, or amenability to suit.