Rule 7.Pleadings Allowed; Form of Motions

Rule 7(a) sets the closed list of pleadings a Mississippi civil case can generate: a complaint and answer, a reply to a counterclaim, an answer to a cross-claim when the answer itself raises one, and a third-party complaint and third-party answer when someone not originally a party is brought into the case under Rule 14. Nothing else is allowed as a matter of right — a reply to an answer or a third-party answer is only permitted if the court orders one.

Rule 7(b) covers motions and other papers. Any application to the court for an order must be made by motion — unless it's made during a hearing or trial — and the motion has to be in writing, state its grounds with particularity, and set out the relief being sought. A written notice of the hearing on a motion can satisfy the writing requirement on its own. The same rules that govern captions, signatures, and format for pleadings apply equally to motions and other filings.

Rule 7(c) sets the physical format: pleadings, motions, and other papers, including depositions, must be on 8½-by-11-inch paper, and depositions must also follow the court-reporter guidelines set out in Mississippi Supreme Court Rule 11. Rule 7(d) removes an older set of tools entirely — demurrers, pleas, and exceptions for insufficiency of a pleading aren't used in Mississippi practice. A challenge to the legal sufficiency of a pleading is instead raised through motions practice, such as a motion under Rule 12.