RULE 7. PLEADINGS ALLOWED--FORM OF MOTIONS
Effective Date: 9/20/1979
Obsolete Date: 3/1/2011
(a) Pleadings. There shall be a complaint and an answer; a reply to a counterclaim denominated as such; an answer to a cross-claim, if the answer contains a cross-claim; a third-party complaint, if a person who was not an original party is summoned under Rule 14; and a third-party answer, if a third-party complaint is served. No other pleading shall be allowed, except that the court May order a reply to an answer or a third-party answer.
(b) Motions and Other Papers.
(1) An application to the court for an order shall be by motion which, unless made during a hearing or trial, shall be made in writing, shall state with particularity the grounds therefore, and shall set forth the relief or order sought. The requirement of writing is fulfilled if the motion is stated in a written notice of the hearing of the motion.
(2) The rules applicable to captions and other matters of form of pleadings apply to all motions and other papers provided for by these rules.
(3) All motions must be signed in accordance with Rule 11.
(4) A motion to vacate or modify a provisional remedy shall have preference over all other motions.
(c) Demurrers, Pleas, Etc., Abolished. Demurrers, pleas, and exceptions for insufficiency of a pleading shall not be used.
Rule 7 was amended, effective March 1, 1986; March 1, 2011; March 1, 2018; October 20, 2021.
This rule is derived from Fed.R.Civ.P. 7.
Under paragraph (a)(7), a reply to an answer or third-party answer is allowed only on court order.
Subdivision (b) was amended, effective March 1, 2018, to eliminate language allowing a motion to be stated as part of a notice of motion.
Subdivision (b) was amended, effective October 20, 2021, to correct punctuation.
Rule 7 was amended, effective March 1, 2011, in response to the December 1, 2007, revision of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.
SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of September 30, 2021, pages____; September 28, 2017, pages 11-12; January 24, 2008, page 15; April 26, 1984, page 25; January 20, 1984, page 15; September 20-21, 1979, page 6; Fed.R.Civ.P. 7.
CROSS REFERENCE: N.D.R.Civ.P. 8 (General Rules of Pleading), 10 (Form of Pleadings), 11 (Signing of Pleadings), 13 (Counterclaim and Cross-Claim), 14 (Third-Party Practice), and 15 (Amended and Supplemental Findings); N.D.R.Crim.P. 47 (Motions), N.D.R.Ct. 3.2 (Submission on Briefs and Filing).