Rule 3-303.Form of pleadings

Rule 3-303 covers the mechanics of putting a pleading together. Pleadings should, as far as practical, go on the forms the Chief Judge of the District Court prescribes, and those forms are exempt from the usual 1.5-inch top and left margins. Beyond formatting, the content itself has to stay lean: every averment should be simple, concise, and direct, with no technical pleading forms required. A pleading states only the facts needed to show entitlement to relief or a ground of defense — it leaves out argument, recitations of law, evidence, or anything immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous.

The rule also gives pleaders flexibility. A party can plead two or more versions of a claim or defense in the alternative or hypothetically, and a valid alternative statement is not undermined by a weaker one pleaded alongside it. A party can likewise raise as many separate claims or defenses as the facts support, even if they don't sit together consistently. Statements made in one part of a pleading, or in another pleading or paper of record, can be adopted by reference rather than repeated, and a written instrument attached as an exhibit becomes part of the pleading for every purpose. Finally, courts read every pleading with an eye toward doing substantial justice, rather than picking it apart on technical grounds.