Rule 6.Pleadings Allowed

Rule 6 sets the closed list of pleadings a civil case can generate. Beyond the Complaint and Answer, it allows an Answer to a counterclaim, an Answer to a cross-claim when the Answer itself raises one, a Third-Party Complaint when someone not originally a party is brought into the case, a Third-Party Answer responding to that, and a Reply when the Answer raises an affirmative defense the pleader wants to avoid. Nothing outside that list is allowed as a matter of right, which keeps pleading practice from sprawling into endless rounds of filings.

The official Comment ties this list to a larger goal in New Hampshire's rules: erasing the old distinction between actions at law and suits in equity. Pleadings exist to tell the opposing party and the court the factual and legal basis for a claim or defense, sharply enough that everyone can judge whether the claim is worth litigating and can set sensible limits on discovery and trial. A pleading that does its job well gives the court what it needs to manage the case from filing to verdict.

Rule 6(b) removes an older set of tools from the table entirely: demurrers, pleas, and exceptions for insufficiency of a pleading are no longer used. Objections to the legal sufficiency of a pleading are instead handled through the motions practice set out elsewhere in the rules, such as a motion to dismiss under Rule 9(b) or Rule 12.