Rule 7.Pleadings allowed; motions.

Rule 7(a) names the only pleadings a civil action permits: a complaint and an answer; a reply to a counterclaim that is labeled as such; an answer to a crossclaim; a third-party complaint when someone not an original party is brought in under Rule 14; and a third-party answer once a third-party complaint is served. If the answer pleads contributory negligence, the plaintiff may reply with an allegation of last clear chance. No other pleading is allowed unless the court orders a reply to an answer or a third-party answer — parties cannot invent new pleadings on their own.

Rule 7(b) governs motions: an application for a court order must be in writing, state its grounds with particularity, and set out the relief sought, unless it is made during a hearing, trial, or a session where the case is already calendared. A motion follows the same rules on captions, signing, and form that apply to pleadings. A motion to transfer a case between trial divisions may also be raised in a responsive pleading, and a motion in a multicounty superior court district may be heard in another county within that district with the permission of the district's senior resident superior court judge or that judge's designee.

Finally, Rule 7(c) abolishes demurrers, pleas, and exceptions for insufficiency outright — motions and the answer are now the only tools for raising a defense — and Rule 7(d) keeps the pleadings themselves from being read to the jury unless the judge orders otherwise.