You have been served with a complaint in which H. Jane Yamada contends that you injured her person when you carelessly left your skateboard on the university library steps, causing her to slip and fall. What would be your procedural response in each of the following situations? Explain each answer

Answer 1

a . You have never owned a skateboard.
b. The time period provided for a person to bring suit for injuries of this type expired three months before the complaint was filed.
c. Probably, an answer would be filed. Ownership may not be a very important issue; your possession is what is critical. The factual contentions are in dispute. An answer is a pleading in which one denies allegations made in the complaint that are untrue. If, however, you never owned or possessed a skateboard, a motion for summary judgment accompanied by an affidavit to that effect would be appropriate. The plaintiff would have to respond with an affidavit to the contrary, or lose. This motion would be filed after an answer in some states and in lieu of an answer in other states.
d. File a demurrer or motion to dismiss. These two terms describe challenges that achieve the same result. If a lawsuit is filed, and if there is no basis in law by which the plaintiff could win the lawsuit, the appropriate maneuver is the motion to dismiss. Even if Ms. Yamada' s statement of the facts is correct, she could not maintain a lawsuit beyond the time prescribed by the statute of limitations. Some states require an answer to be filed with the issue of the statute of limitations to be resolved subsequently by a motion for judgment on the pleadings.