Responding When You Are Sued

What to do after you are served: count your deadline, choose between an answer and a motion, raise defenses and avoid a default judgment. This Lawtopolis course on responding when you are sued has 5 short lessons and a quiz, and every lesson links to the official rule text.

What you will learn about responding when you are sued

• How to calculate your response deadline
• How to write an answer and affirmative defenses
• When a motion to dismiss fits
• How defaults happen and how they can be set aside

Who this course is for

• People who have been served with a lawsuit
• Self-represented defendants

Lessons in this course

1. Your deadline comes first

The most important thing after being served is the response deadline. In federal court, a defendant must generally serve an answer within 21 days after being served with the summons and complaint (FRCP 12(a)(1)(A)). If the defendant waived formal service, the deadline is 60 days after the waiver request was sent, or 90 days if it was sent outside the United States.

2. Answering the complaint

An answer responds to each numbered paragraph of the complaint. Under FRCP 8(b), you must admit or deny each allegation, or state that you lack enough knowledge or information to form a belief about its truth, which works as a denial. An allegation you fail to deny can be treated as admitted.

3. Motions instead of, or before, an answer

Instead of answering right away, a defendant may file a motion under FRCP 12(b). It lists seven defenses: lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, insufficient process, insufficient service of process, failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and failure to join a required party.

4. Avoiding and fixing a default

If a defendant does not respond on time, the plaintiff can ask the clerk to enter a default and then ask for a default judgment (FRCP 55). A default judgment can be enforced like any other judgment, for example through wage garnishment or a bank levy.

5. Putting it into practice: the first 21 days

Now that you know the rules, this lesson turns them into steps you can follow. First, work through the checklist in order. Then, before you file or serve anything, compare your work with the common mistakes below and with your court’s own rules.

Next steps after this responding when you are sued course

When you finish, take the quiz to check your understanding. After that, keep going with the related pages in the Motions & Procedures library, the Legal Glossary and the Research Center. For the official text, read the current federal rules on uscourts.gov, and also check your own court’s local rules.

Lawtopolis provides legal information and education, not legal advice. Rules change, so check the current version of your court’s rules before you file.

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