Rule 1.405.Answer

An Iowa answer has to work at the level of individual allegations. Rule 1.405(1) requires it to show whose behalf it is filed on and to specifically admit or deny each allegation or paragraph of the petition — a denial can be based on lack of information, but it has to address the specific allegation rather than deny the pleading wholesale. The answer must also state any additional facts that show a defense, and it may raise points of law apparent on the face of the petition. If the answer includes a counterclaim, that counterclaim has to sit in its own separate division rather than blend into the rest of the answer.

Rule 1.405(2) adds a special requirement when a conservator, guardian, or guardian ad litem answers on behalf of a ward: the answer must state whether the ward was properly served, and it must deny every material allegation that would prejudice the ward. Rule 1.405(3) then sets the default consequence for silence — every fact pleaded and not denied in a later pleading is deemed admitted, with three exceptions: allegations of value or the amount of damage, averments in a pleading that requires no response, and facts first pleaded after the seventh day before trial, which the rule deems denied by operation of law rather than admitted.

Rule 1.405(4) handles a narrower but practical problem: what happens when a pleading copies a writing that appears to bear someone's signature. If the writing purports to be signed by an adverse party, the signature is treated as genuine unless that party denies it by affidavit and can, during the time allowed to plead, inspect the original. If the writing purports to be signed by someone who is not a party, the signature is likewise treated as genuine unless a party denies it by affidavit — though that denial, like others under this rule, may be made for lack of information.