The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure states that "The court may strike from a pleading an insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter." Similarly, for example, the California Code of Civil Procedure provides that a motion to strike may be made to strike out any "irrelevant, ...
A motion to strike material from a complaint must be filed before filing an answer. FRCP 12(f). Therefore, unless otherwise ordered by the court, the motion must be filed by the defendant within 21 days after being served with a summons and complaint, or within 60 days if service of the complaint was timely waived.
Summary. Rule 12(f) allows courts to strike redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter from pleadings. Judge Hollander's opinion in Blevins v. Piatt provides clear criteria for granting or denying a Rule 12(f) motion.
A motion to strike is a request to a judge that part of a party's pleading or a piece of evidence be removed from the record. During the pleading stage, this can be accomplished by a tool such as Rule 12(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or a state equivalent.
12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, 'the district court must construe the complaint in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept all of the factual allegations as true, and determine whether the plaintiff undoubtedly can prove no set of facts in support of his claims that would entitle him to relief.
Rule 12(b)(6) is a provision under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that allows a defendant to seek dismissal of a complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
Summary. Rule 12(f) allows courts to strike redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter from pleadings. Judge Hollander's opinion in Blevins v. Piatt provides clear criteria for granting or denying a Rule 12(f) motion.
A “motion to dismiss” is typically filed in response to a complaint and is made in lieu of filing an “answer.” Technically, a plaintiff can move to “strike” a defense that a defendant has pled, given that defenses are subject to the same pleading requirements as are the plaintiff's claims.
What happens next? If we filed the motion to strike in a trial court, then we will set the motion to be heard by a judge or magistrate, and be ruled upon. If we filed it in an appeals court, the appeals court will read the motion and offending document and will rule on it without hearing.
When you file your motion, the court clerk will insert the date, time, and place of the hearing on your motion. You must then “serve” (mail) a copy of your filed motion (including all exhibits and the date, time, and place of hearing) to all other parties in the case.