802.01.Pleadings allowed; form of motions.

Section 802.01 draws a closed list of pleadings for a Wisconsin lawsuit: a complaint and an answer, a reply to a counterclaim, an answer to a cross claim when the answer contains one, a third-party complaint when a new person is summoned under section 803.05, and a third-party answer when that complaint is served. Nothing else is allowed unless the court orders a further pleading in response to a reply or an answer.

The section then sets the form for motions. An application for a court order must ordinarily be written, state its grounds with particularity, and set out the relief sought, though the writing requirement is satisfied by a written notice of hearing. Orders to show cause are off the table unless a statute specifically authorizes one. A motion must be accompanied by the records and papers it relies on, unless those were already filed or served in the case, and any additional material offered at the hearing has to give opposing counsel a fair chance to respond. Orders are presumed based on the papers and proceedings already had, and must recite the nature of the motion, the appearances, and the relevant dates, without further formal recitals. Every written motion’s caption must name the party seeking relief and briefly describe the relief sought.

Finally, the section abolishes demurrers and pleas outright, part of Wisconsin’s broader move away from older common-law pleading forms toward the motion practice set out in section 802.06. It also fixes when a motion counts as made for computing deadlines: a motion requiring notice under section 801.15(4) is deemed made when served with its notice of motion.