Responding to a Wyoming complaint: 20 days, 30 if you were served out of state

Wyoming gives a defendant 20 days, among the shortest periods in the country. But the rule sets out four different periods in one subparagraph, and three of them are longer. Read all four before you calendar anything.

The deadline

Wyo. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(1):

Unless another time is specified by this rule or a state statute, the time for serving a responsive pleading is as follows: (A) A defendant must serve an answer: (i) within 20 days after being served with the summons and complaint; (ii) within 30 days after being served with the summons and complaint if service is made outside the State of Wyoming; (iii) within 30 days after the last day of publication; or (iv) if it has timely waived service under Rule 4(d), within 60 days after the request for a waiver was sent, or within 90 days after it was sent to the defendant outside any judicial district of the United States. (B) A party must serve an answer to a counterclaim or crossclaim within 20 days after being served with the pleading that states the counterclaim or crossclaim. (C) A party must serve a reply to an answer within 20 days after being served with an order to reply, unless the order specifies a different time.

Three observations.

Where you were served changes the period, not where you live. A Wyoming resident served while traveling in Colorado gets 30 days.

Waiving service is worth 40 days. For a defendant who intends to appear anyway, returning the waiver is usually the better trade — but note the 60 days runs from when the request was sent, so time spent deciding comes out of your own period.

And the obligation is to serve, not to file.

After a motion, Rule 12(a)(2):

Unless the court sets a different time, serving a motion under this rule alters these periods as follows: (A) if the court denies the motion or postpones its disposition until trial, the responsive pleading must be served within 14 days after notice of the court's action; or (B) if the court grants a motion for a more definite statement, the responsive pleading must be served within 14 days after the more definite statement is served.

Fourteen days is a longer landing zone than the underlying 20-day period, which: filing a Rule 12 motion in Wyoming can leave you with more breathing room than answering straight away would have.

Default

Wyo. R. Civ. P. 55(a):

When a party against whom a judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend, and that failure is shown by affidavit or otherwise, the clerk must enter the party's default.

Clerical, mandatory, no notice beforehand.

Rule 55(b)(1) — the clerk's judgment:

If the plaintiff's claim is for a sum certain or a sum that can be made certain by computation, the clerk — on the plaintiff's request, with an affidavit showing the amount due — must enter judgment for that amount and costs against a defendant who has been defaulted for not appearing and who is neither a minor nor an incompetent person.

Rule 55(b)(2) — everything else:

In all other cases, the party must apply to the court for a default judgment. A default judgment may be entered against a minor or incompetent person only if represented by a guardian, guardian ad litem, trustee, conservator, or other like fiduciary who has appeared. If the party against whom a default judgment is sought has appeared personally or by a representative, that party or its representative must be served with written notice of the application at least 7 days before the hearing.

The familiar structure, and the familiar lesson. There is no notice before entry of default and none before a clerk's judgment on a sum certain. Seven days' notice before a court's default judgment depends entirely on whether you appeared.

Note that Wyoming's list of acceptable fiduciaries is longer than most, adding a trustee to the usual guardian, guardian ad litem and conservator.

Answering, or moving

Rule 12(b) carries the pre-answer defenses on the restyled federal model, and serving one suspends the answer obligation under Rule 12(a)(2).

Two points for the choice.

The arithmetic favors moving, slightly. Twenty days to answer against fourteen days after a denial means a Rule 12 motion filed on day nineteen can buy you well over a month in total.

But consolidation and waiver still bite. A defense available when you made your first motion and left out of it is generally gone, except for those the rule preserves. And outside material presented on a failure-to-state-a-claim motion converts it into a summary judgment motion.

How Wyoming compares

A short checklist

1. Work out where you were served before you count. Inside Wyoming is 20 days; outside it is 30.
2. If service was by publication, the 30 days runs from the last day of publication.
3. If you were sent a waiver request, consider signing it — 60 days from the date the request was sent, 90 if you are outside the United States.
4. The obligation is to serve, not to file.
5. A Rule 12 motion suspends the deadline, and a denial gives you 14 days from notice — longer than the underlying 20-day period.
6. Raise your Rule 12 defenses together. An available defense omitted from the first motion is generally foreclosed.
7. Appear. There is no notice before entry of default and none before a clerk's judgment on a sum certain.
8. If a clerk entered judgment, check the affidavit and confirm the claim really was a sum certain or one made certain by computation.

Where these rules live

• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 4 — Summons
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 5 — Serving and filing pleadings and other papers
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 6 — Time
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 8 — General rules of pleading
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 12 — When and how presented; motion for judgment on the pleadings
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 15 — Amended and supplemental pleadings
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 55 — Default; default judgment
• Wyo. R. Civ. P. 60 — Relief from a judgment or order

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the state statutes that set different response periods in particular kinds of case are outside what this page covers.