Short answer. Not necessarily. Section 2 of Rule 12 gives the court discretion: upon the motion being filed, the clerk of court must bring it to the court's attention, and the court may either deny or grant it outright, or allow the parties an opportunity to be heard.
What the law says
Upon the filing of the motion, the clerk of court must immediately bring it to the attention of the court, which may either deny or grant it outright, or allow the parties the opportunity to be heard.
Rule 12, Section 2 — Action by the court. Read the full provision →
The clerk's role in getting the motion before the court
Section 2 begins with an administrative step: upon the filing of the motion, the clerk of court must immediately bring it to the attention of the court. This ensures that a motion for a bill of particulars — which seeks a more definite statement of vague or ambiguous allegations in a pleading — does not simply sit unprocessed, but is promptly routed to the judge for action. This immediate-referral duty matters because such a motion is typically filed early in the case, often before an answer is due, so any delay in getting it before the judge can hold up the rest of the pleading timeline.
The court's options: three paths
Once the motion reaches the court, Section 2 gives it flexibility in how to handle it: the court may either deny or grant it outright, or allow the parties the opportunity to be heard. This means a hearing is not mandatory in every case — the court can rule immediately on the papers alone if the motion's merit (or lack of it) is clear, or it can instead schedule a hearing to let both sides argue their positions before deciding. Denying the motion outright leaves the challenged pleading as filed, so the responding party must then answer or otherwise plead to it; granting it outright simply orders the more definite statement without further argument; and setting a hearing defers that same choice until after both sides have been heard.
Why this flexibility exists
Giving the court discretion over whether to hold a hearing reflects the practical variety of bill-of-particulars motions — some are straightforward enough to decide on the pleadings and motion alone, while others may genuinely benefit from argument, particularly where it's unclear whether the challenged allegations are truly too vague to answer or whether the motion is simply a delay tactic. Section 2 lets the court calibrate its process to the specific motion before it. That calibration also discourages parties from using the motion merely to buy time, since a court that recognizes a transparently dilatory motion can dispose of it immediately rather than being forced to schedule a hearing regardless of the motion's actual merit.