§ 422.10.Pleadings Allowed

Section 422.10 is a short but load-bearing rule. It closes the list of pleadings a civil action may use to four: the complaint that opens the case, the demurrer that challenges a pleading's legal sufficiency, the answer that responds to a complaint or cross-complaint, and the cross-complaint that lets a party bring its own claims into the same action.

Everything else in a lawsuit — motions, briefs, discovery requests, notices — falls outside this list. Those documents do things a pleading does not: they ask the court to act, or they gather evidence, rather than alleging a claim or defense for judgment.

Because the list is fixed, a party cannot invent a new kind of pleading to fit an unusual situation. If a procedural need does not map onto a complaint, demurrer, answer, or cross-complaint, the party has to look for a motion or other mechanism the Code provides elsewhere, such as a motion to strike under § 435 or a motion for judgment on the pleadings under § 438.