When a Defendant is properly served with the Complaint and Summons from the Plaintiff, he is officially placed on notice that he is being sued. As a result, a defendant must respond to the allegations set forth in the Complaint.

The way a defendant replies is through a responsive pleading called anAnswer. (The Defendant mustAnswerthe Plaintiff's Complaint.) For each allegation listed in the Complaint, a defendant must provide a response. This is why it is important to number the Complaint correctly. This way, answering each allegation listed is much easier and organized.

Please read prior to moving forward

Some things to emphasize and keep in mind in regard to the Answer:

#1. The Answer should literally mirror the Complaint in the way that it looks. It should be the exact same form with the exact same numbers of allegations.

#2. Each and every allegation within the Complaint must be responded to. And responded to in good faith. If a defendant knows the allegation to be true, he must state so. If he honestly doesn't know, it's okay to state so. BUT, make sure to state a response. If an allegation is not responded to,IT IS CONSIDERED ADMITTED. Silence is admission -YIKES!!!So, if you do not want to admit, you still need to address it.

#3. Depending on how the allegation is written, will depend on how it is answered. Sometimes one number may allege more than one thing. In answering, a defendant may admit in part and deny in part. It's okay to do that! For example, a plaintiff may allege the following:

2. Plaintiff is a resident of the state of Indiana and owns her own business in Porter County, Indiana.

The defendant may know that the Plaintiff is a resident of Indiana, but might be unaware that she owns a business. As a result, the proper answer would be:

2. Defendant admits that Plaintiff is a resident of the state of Indiana, but is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the allegation that Plaintiff owns a business in Porter County, Indiana.

See? Make sure that when drafting an Answer, you respond to each and every allegations, even multiple allegations in one numbered paragraph.

Affirmative Defenses

After the defendant responds to all the allegations, he has a chance to counter Plaintiff's argument. He has a chance to bring a defense. This is whereAffirmative Defensescome into play.

Let's talk in the Affirmative:

Did you ever get into a fight with a brother, a sister, or a friend when you were a child? And, when a parent caught you arguing r, did you automatically say, "She started it. I was just standing here, and she hit me in the stomach, so I hit her back."

You had no way of knowing this, but you were claiming an Affirmative Defense. If your sister really did hit you in the stomach, which prompted you to hit her back, you could have been making a claim of self-defense.

Self-defense operates as a way to detract or mitigate what you did.

This is exactly how legal Affirmative Defenses work. When a defendant claims such a defense, he is trying to defeat a Plaintiff's claim,even ifthe claim could be proven.

Here are two additional examples; these are a bit more grown-up:

Breach of Contract

• Plaintiff claims Defendant breached a contract by backing out of the deal, so Plaintiff filed a Breach of Contract action against Defendant. Defendant may have breached the contract; but, he did so only because Plaintiff orally modified the contract. All modifications are supposed to be done in writing. Therefore, Defendant would rely on the Affirmative Defense of the Statute of Frauds.
• By using this statute, Defendant is saying: "If I am found to have breached the contract, I did so because Plaintiff also did something, which caused me to act in that manner."

Side Note- Explanation of The Statute of Frauds: The Statute of Frauds requires certain documents to be in writing. If the agreements are one of the following, they must be in writing, so think:MY LEGS.

• Marriage agreements (usually Antenuptial or Prenuptial Agreements)
• Year or more (agreements that are good for one year or more - think: Apartment rental)
• Land Contracts (for the sale of land)
• Executor / Executrix (people who oversee estates or wills)
• Goods for more than $500.00 (the Uniform Commercial Code, for sale of goods at $500.00-plus)
• Suretyships (agreement whereby one person signs on behalf of another, usually the debtor)

Personal-Injury Accident

• Plaintiff was driving a car when a truck, driven by Defendant, crashed into the car's passenger-side front door. Plaintiff claimed that Defendant failed to stop at the stop sign. Plaintiff filed suit.
• Once Defendant has been served, Defendant has a chance to respond to the allegations in the Complaint. So, Defendant does, and raises the Affirmative Defense of Contributory Negligence.
• Contributory Negligence claims that if Defendant did something wrong, Defendant wasn't alone - Plaintiff did something wrong, too. In this instance, maybe Plaintiff disregarded the yield sign. If Plaintiff had yielded to oncoming traffic, it is likely Plaintiff's car would not have been struck by Defendant's truck.

In our two examples, both the Statute of Frauds and Contributory Negligence act as a way to deflect or mitigate the fault. This is the purpose behind Affirmative Defenses.

Other types of Affirmative Defenses

Read through Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Indiana Trial Rules to see what types of defenses may qualify as Affirmative Defenses. The Rules are provided to you in the next page.

• Plaintiff lacks standing
• Plaintiff consented
• Plaintiff assumed the risk
• Plaintiff failed to mitigate damages
• Self-defense or defense of others

General search to figure out what other types of Affirmative Defenses may exist.

Answer with Affirmative Defenses

Now, let's go through a sample Answer with Affirmative Defenses so that you have a better understanding of how they may appear in a pleading.

Refer to images for complaint.

Actions

LOOK AT THIS:As you read through the Answer, you should note that the Caption now includes a Cause Number. This is because the number would have been assigned by the clerk of the court once the Complaint was filed. And again, everything that follows must bear the same number.

Each response to an allegation remains in numbered order to correspond with the allegation. For example, the first response answers the first allegation on the Complaint; the second response answers the second allegation on the Complaint; and, so on and so forth.

Notice how a Jury is demanded on the Answer. Remember, both the plaintiff and the defendant has the ability to request a jury trial. If you do not, it is waived.

Once all of the responses have been made, we may include Affirmative Defenses. Each defense made must be reasonable and particular to the case at-hand. For instance, you could not have a Statute of Frauds defense for a Personal-Injury Accident case unless a written agreement existed that was linked to the accident. If an agreement does not exist, the Statute of Frauds would not be a good Affirmative Defense.

Make sure you include a subheading for each Affirmative Defense. This makes it easier to read and follow throughout the pleading.

Finally - and, arguably most important -if an Affirmative Defense is not raised in the pleading (Answer), it cannot be raised later, it is considered waived.It would make no sense to allow a Defendant to raise an insufficiency of service of process defense after the attorneys begin arguing the case before a jury. Once Defendant responds to the Complaint, Defendant is acknowledging that service was proper.

At the end of the Answer with Affirmative Defenses, the attorney signs and dates the pleading.

Remember, since the initial service of the Complaint, the parties now have a mandatory obligation to serve everyone involved in the case themselves. As a result, note the Certificate of Service. This is a way to guarantee to the court that the pleading has been served on the other party or parties, all attorneys of record (or pro se party members, if not represented by an attorney).

Now, make sure to read the rules!

Link For Reference,

https://ivylearn.ivytech.edu/courses/1128163/files/99093349/download?wrap=1