The prayer for relief is the part of complaint where a plaintiff states the damages or other remedies it is seeking from the court in a lawsuit. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 8(a)(3) requires that a plaintiff's pleadings contains a prayer for relief. The prayer is often located at the end of the complaint.
(a) General Rule. A party shall file an answer to an original complaint, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim within 30 days after being served, except as provided by sections (b) and (c) of this Rule.
If you are filing an answer, you must file in the county where the Complaint, Petition, or Motion was filed. If you think the other side filed in the wrong county, you can ask the court, in writing, to move the case to a different county. This is a situation that may require a lawyer's assistance.
On a separate page or pages, write a short and plain statement of the answer to the allegations in the complaint. Number the paragraphs. The answer should correspond to each paragraph in the complaint, with paragraph 1 of the answer corresponding to paragraph 1 of the complaint, etc.
File a Notice of Intention to Defend: You must file this within 15 days of receiving the summons. The Notice is on the bottom half of the summons. Once you have responded, the Court will send the plaintiff a copy of this notice. File a Counterclaim, Cross-claim, or a Third-Party Complaint.
For example, if a person is injured in a car accident, they may file a lawsuit against the driver who caused the accident. In their complaint, they would include a prayer for relief asking for compensation for their medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
An answer is typically the first responsive pleading filed by a defendant in a civil case. It responds to each allegation in a complaint through an admission or denial, as well as presents any defenses, affirmative defenses, counterclaims or cross-claims.
Personal injury lawsuits such as those stemming from car accidents, medical malpractice, or slip and fall incidents are a one type of civil suit. Other common civil lawsuits include breach of contract, product liability, divorce and family law, property disputes, and housing disputes.