Short answer. Rule 6, Section 2 allows a party's claims to be asserted through a complaint, counterclaim, cross-claim, third-party (or fourth-party) complaint, or complaint-in-intervention, with defenses raised in an answer. A reply is allowed only if the answer being responded to attaches an actionable document.
What the law says
The claims of a party are asserted in a complaint, counterclaim, cross- claim, third (fourth, etc.)-party complaint, or complaint-in-intervention.
Rule 6, Section 2 — Pleadings allowed. Read the full provision →
What the law says
An answer may be responded to by a reply only if the defending party attaches an actionable document to the answer.
Rule 6, Section 2 — Pleadings allowed. Read the full provision →
The five ways to assert a claim
Section 2 lists the pleadings through which the claims of a party are asserted: the complaint, which starts the action; the counterclaim, which a defending party raises against the one who sued them; the cross-claim, between co-parties on the same side; the third (fourth, etc.)-party complaint, which brings in someone not originally part of the case; and the complaint-in-intervention, filed by someone who was not originally a party but has a stake in the outcome. Each is a distinct vehicle for asserting a claim, aimed at a different relationship between the parties involved.
Where defenses go
On the other side of the ledger, the defenses of a party are alleged in the answer to the pleading asserting a claim against him or her. Whichever of the claim-pleadings above is used to bring a claim against you, your response to it — denying allegations, raising defenses — takes the form of an answer to that specific pleading, not a new complaint of your own (though a counterclaim can be included alongside it).
Why a reply is the exception, not the rule
Unlike the pleadings above, a reply is not generally available just because a party wants the last word on the answer. The rule allows it only if the defending party attaches an actionable document to the answer. An actionable document is one on which a claim or defense is based, and the reply's narrow function in that situation is to deny or explain the genuineness or due execution of that specific attached document — not to reargue the whole case again.
Why the list is closed rather than open-ended
By naming specific pleadings for specific relationships — claim against an opposing party, claim against a co-party, claim against an outsider, claim by an outsider, and a defense pleading in response — the rule keeps the structure of a civil case organized and predictable. Anyone in a lawsuit who thinks they have a claim connected to the case, but whose relationship to the existing parties does not fit neatly into complaint, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party complaint, needs to look closely at which of these categories actually captures their situation before filing.
Related provisions
- Rule 6, Section 2 — Pleadings allowed
- Rule 6, Section 1 — Pleadings defined
- Rule 6, Section 3 — Complaint