Rule 12.Defenses and Objections — When and How Presented — By Pleading or Motion — Motion for Judgment on Pleadings.

Subdivision (a) carries the clock. A defendant serves an answer within twenty days after service of the summons, complaint, Language Assistance Notice and all other required documents, unless the court directs otherwise where service was made under a court order. A party served with a cross-claim answers within twenty days. A plaintiff replies to a counterclaim in the answer within twenty days after the answer is served, or, where the court orders a reply, within twenty days after service of that order. Serving a motion under this rule moves the date: if the court denies the motion or holds it for trial, the responsive pleading is due ten days after notice of that action, and if the court grants a motion for a more definite statement, ten days after the statement is served.

Subdivision (b) sets out the seven defenses a pleader may raise by motion rather than in the responsive pleading: lack of subject matter jurisdiction, lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, insufficiency of process, insufficiency of service of process, failure to state a claim, and failure to join an indispensable party. Such a motion comes before pleading if a further pleading is permitted, and joining defenses together waives none of them. A motion or answer raising failure to state a claim must come with a short, concise statement of the grounds. If matters outside the pleading are offered on a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim and the court does not exclude them, the motion becomes a summary judgment motion under Rule 56 and everyone gets a reasonable chance to present the material Rule 56 makes pertinent.

The middle subdivisions handle the rest of the pre-trial skirmish. Any party may move for judgment on the pleadings after the pleadings close, so long as it does not delay trial, and that motion converts to Rule 56 on the same terms. Under subdivision (d), the seven listed defenses and the motion for judgment on the pleadings are heard before trial on any party's application unless the court defers them. Subdivision (e) allows a motion for a more definite statement, made before responding, where a pleading that calls for a responsive pleading is too vague to answer; the motion must point out the defects and the details wanted, and failing to obey the resulting order within ten days after notice of it can cost the pleader the pleading. Subdivision (f) lets the court strike an insufficient defense or redundant, immaterial, impertinent or scandalous matter on a party's motion made before responding — or within twenty days of service where no response is permitted — or on the court's own initiative at any time.

Subdivisions (g) and (h) punish piecemeal motions. A party who moves under this rule and omits an available defense that could have been raised by motion cannot raise it by a later motion. A party also waives every defense and objection not presented either by such a motion or, where no motion was made, in the party's answer or reply. Three matters survive that waiver: failure to state a claim, failure to join an indispensable party and failure to state a legal defense. Each may still be raised by a later pleading, by a motion for judgment on the pleadings, or at trial, and the court must dismiss whenever it appears that subject matter jurisdiction is missing. Subdivision (i) covers paternity and support cases filed under the Title 15 chapters it names: the summons may be returnable on a time and day certain so long as the defendant still has at least twenty days after service to file an answer.