(a) Denials. A party shall deny those statements known or believed by him to be untrue. He shall specify those statements as to the truth of which he lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief and this shall have the effect of a denial. All other statements of a pleading are deemed admitted, except that where no responsive pleading is permitted they are deemed denied or avoided.
§ 3018.Responsive pleadings.
Article 30. Remedies and Pleading · Last amended 1980 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceTells a defendant how to respond to each allegation in a pleading — deny what's known to be untrue, disclaim what isn't known — and lists the affirmative defenses, from the statute of limitations to release, that must be raised in the answer or risk being lost.
Full Text of CPLR 3018
(b) Affirmative Defenses. A party shall plead all matters which if not pleaded would be likely to take the adverse party by surprise or would raise issues of fact not appearing on the face of a prior pleading such as arbitration and award, collateral estoppel, culpable conduct claimed in diminution of damages as set forth in article fourteen-A, discharge in bankruptcy, facts showing illegality either by statute or common law, fraud, infancy or other disability of the party defending, payment, release, res judicata, statute of frauds, or statute of limitation. The application of this subdivision shall not be confined to the instances enumerated.
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 3018(a) governs the mechanics of a denial. A party has to deny any statement known or believed to be untrue, and must specify any statement whose truth the party lacks enough knowledge or information to form a belief about — a specification that itself counts as a denial. Anything left unaddressed is deemed admitted, with one flip side: where no responsive pleading is required at all (a reply to an unpleaded counterclaim, for instance), the unaddressed statements are deemed denied or avoided rather than admitted. That default makes a careless answer dangerous — silence on an allegation, in the ordinary case, concedes it.
Subdivision (b) lists the matters a party must plead as affirmative defenses: things that, left unpleaded, would either take the other side by surprise or raise issues of fact the prior pleading doesn't reveal on its face. The statute names arbitration and award, collateral estoppel, comparative-fault culpable conduct under Article 14-A, discharge in bankruptcy, illegality under statute or common law, fraud, infancy or another disability, payment, release, res judicata, statute of frauds, and statute of limitations — and then says outright that the list isn't exhaustive. A defense that fits the pattern the statute describes, even if unnamed, still has to be pleaded affirmatively.
The two subdivisions work as a pair with the waiver rule in CPLR 3211(e): a defense that belongs on this list but never makes it into the answer, and is never raised by an early motion either, is ordinarily lost for the rest of the case. Because CPLR 3013 doesn't force a plaintiff to anticipate every defense in the complaint, CPLR 3018(b) puts the burden on the defendant to flag the matters extraneous to the complaint before the case moves forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I don't specifically deny an allegation in my New York answer?
Under CPLR 3018(a), any statement in the complaint not denied, or not identified as one the defendant lacks knowledge or information about, is deemed admitted.
How do I answer an allegation in New York when I don't know whether it's true?
CPLR 3018(a) lets a party specify that it lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief about a statement's truth, and that specification has the same effect as a denial.
What is an affirmative defense under CPLR 3018(b)?
It's a matter that, if not pleaded, would surprise the other party or raise a fact issue not appearing on the face of the prior pleading, such as release, payment, res judicata, or the statute of limitations.
Do I have to plead the statute of limitations as an affirmative defense?
Yes. CPLR 3018(b) lists the statute of limitations among the matters that must be pleaded affirmatively rather than raised for the first time later.
Is the list of affirmative defenses in CPLR 3018(b) the only defenses that qualify?
No. The statute says its application isn't confined to the instances it enumerates — any matter fitting the same pattern of surprise or hidden fact issues must be pleaded affirmatively.
What happens if I forget to plead an affirmative defense like release or payment?
An unpleaded affirmative defense, if not otherwise raised through a timely motion, is generally treated as waived for the rest of the case under the rules governing waiver in CPLR 3211(e).
Can I raise res judicata for the first time at trial instead of in my answer?
Ordinarily no — CPLR 3018(b) lists res judicata as an affirmative defense that must be pleaded in the answer, and raising it for the first time at trial risks a finding that it was waived.
Advisory Committee Notes
Subd (a) of this section is based upon CPA §§ 243, 261(1) and 272. The provision that allegations as to damages are never deemed admitted has been omitted.
Subd (b) of this section is taken, in large part verbatim, from CPA § 242. Other matters which may be the subject of a motion to dismiss under rule 3211(e) have been added in order to give warning since a waiver would result under rule 3211 from failure to raise them either by answer or motion to dismiss. The phrase “not arising out of the preceding pleadings” appearing in CPA § 242 has been replaced by “not appearing on the face of a prior pleading.” The latter is more appropriate to the sense of the provision since all issues including those specifically referred to arise directly or indirectly out of the preceding pleadings.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, eff Sept 1, 1963; amd, L 1962, ch 318, § 14, eff Sept 1, 1963; L 1980, ch 111, § 1; L 1980, ch 504, § 1, eff June 24, 1980.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: affirmative defenses New York answerhow to deny allegations in a New York answerCPLR 3018(b) list of defensesstatute of limitations affirmative defense New Yorkwaiver of affirmative defense New Yorkdenial for lack of knowledge or information