Rule 9.Pleading special matters.

Rule 9 carves out exceptions to Rule 8’s relaxed notice pleading for a handful of matters that still call for more detail. A party other than a natural person must affirmatively plead its legal existence and capacity to sue, and anyone suing in a representative capacity must plead that capacity and authority; a challenge to another party’s existence, capacity, or authority must itself be raised by a specific negative averment with supporting particulars. Fraud, duress, and mistake must be pleaded with particularity as to the circumstances, though malice, intent, knowledge, and other conditions of mind may still be averred generally.

Conditions precedent may be pleaded with a general averment that all conditions have been performed or have occurred — a denial of that averment, by contrast, must be specific and particular. An official document or act may be pleaded by averring only that it was issued or done in compliance with law, and a judgment or ruling of a court or tribunal may be pleaded without setting out the basis for its jurisdiction. Special damages must each be separately averred, and a private statute may be pleaded by referring to its title or ratification date, which puts the court on judicial notice of it. In an action for libel or slander, the complaint need not plead the extrinsic facts connecting the defamatory matter to the plaintiff; a general allegation that it was published or spoken concerning the plaintiff is enough, subject to proof at trial, and the defendant may plead both truth and mitigating circumstances in the answer.

A complaint alleging medical malpractice must specifically assert that the medical care and available records have been reviewed by a person reasonably expected to qualify as an expert witness willing to testify that the standard of care was not met, or by a person the plaintiff will move to qualify as an expert under Rule 702(e) (with that motion filed alongside the complaint), or must instead allege facts supporting the common-law doctrine of res ipsa loquitur — or the complaint is dismissed. On a motion filed before the limitations period runs, a resident superior court judge may extend the deadline to file the complaint by up to 120 days for good cause, to allow that review to be completed. Finally, a demand for punitive damages must be specifically stated, apart from the dollar amount, with the aggravating factor supporting the award pleaded with particularity.