Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
What does "no defense" in a verified answer look like?
In defendants' verified answer, they state:
Defendants deny paragraph 6 and each sub-part of said paragraph of the verified first amended complaint. (Paragraph 6 is a list of major material allegations in my verified compaint)
Then they move on to to the next item: Defendants lack information or belief sufficient to answer the allegations in paragraph 7 and basing their denial on this ground, deny each and every allegation in paragraph 7 of the verified first amended complaint.
Defendants deny paragraph 10 of the verified first amended complaint.
Each paragraph is like this, then the affirmative defenses are to the verified first amended complaint, instead of to a cause of action or to any material allegations or paragraphs, and they state the affirmative defense with no facts as to why they state them, for exampe, they say Defendants are informed and believe and based thereon allege that through plaintiff's own acts/omissions plaintiff is estopped from recovering damages from defendants, end of that affirmative defense, they don't state anything else, like what acts/omisisons, and there is no place at the beginning stating a list of facts that get referred to throughout the answer.
Is this what "no defense" in a verified answer means?
3 Answers from Attorneys
"No defense" would mean, I suppose since it is not a legal term, that the other side has no defense to the allegations. In what you cite the defendants have legally raised a defense to everything of controversy you raise. They are not supposed to state any facts upon which defenses are allowed. Since you fled a verified complaint, which normally has little practical advantage over an unverified one, they are required to answer each paragraph in the complaint and not just make a general denial.
The above is a very easy and fundamental matter in litigation. Your needing help on it suggests that you need to see an attorney for at least a consultation to see whether you have a good case, how to handle it, and how to beat the defendants.
Good luck.
Mr. Shers is right on this one. There is no legal meaning to "'no defense' in a verified answer." The only thing I could think of that it would mean is that after taking the admissions, if any, and denials in the answer as true, the plaintiff would still win. What you describe their answer being like is pretty much exactly what a good verified answer would say. So whatever you may mean by "no defense," what you got is not it.
The denials are effective, even if you don't like them, or think the defendant's claim that they lack information and believe are horse puckey.
The affirmative defenses, however, may be deficient. �A party against whom an answer has been filed may object, by demurrer as provided in Section 430.30, to the answer upon any one or more of the following grounds�[t]he answer does not state facts sufficient to constitute a defense.� (Code Civ. Proc. � 430.20, subd. (a).)
Allegations that are stated as Affirmative Defenses should not be stated as conclusions of law, but rather should be �averred as carefully and with as much detail as the facts which constitute the cause of action and are alleged in the complaint.� (FPI Development, Inc. v. Nakashima (3rd Dist. 1991) 231 Cal.App.3d 367, 384.)
If you are going to handle this yourself, you should proceed cautiously. There are very picky and tricky rules governing demurrers, and many judges do not like demurrers to answers.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
