The defendant may submit evidence with her motion, but the grounds for them to do so are usually limited. And some judges require the parties to file letters with the court first, explaining what they intend to say in their motion to dismiss and opposition. They usually must do so within a few weeks of receiving the complaint, although it is common for the plaintiff and defendant to agree on a more lenient schedule. The rules usually require the defendant to file a legal brief with the court, explaining why the complaint should be dismissed. Often, motions to dismiss proceed like a regular motion. In New York State Courts, they are governed by CPLR 3211. ![]() In federal court, these motions are governed by Rule 12(b). ![]() How a Motion to Dismiss Worksĭifferent courts have different rules for motions to dismiss. Similarly, a plaintiff who wins a motion to dismiss may think she has won the case, but really the judge has just decided that the court will hear the case and that the complaint properly alleges claims, but not that the plaintiff has met her burden in proving the case. (If the motion to dismiss fails or the defendant chooses not to file one, the denial of allegations usually comes in the answer.). This can be very confusing for non-lawyers because a defendant who disputes the allegations may wonder why the motion to dismiss focuses on technical issues in the allegations instead of a broad denial of the allegations. In fact, when deciding a motion to dismiss, courts usually assume that the allegations in the complaint are true. The third is that the claims in the complaint are subject to an affirmative defense like the statute of limitations.Īnd the fourth reason is that the plaintiff has already waived the right to sue by signing a release or has already litigated the claims at issue.īecause these grounds for a motion to dismiss can be technical, motions to dismiss do not usually address whether the allegations in the lawsuit are true. The second reason is that the complaint does not contain the necessary allegations to support a claim. The first reason is that the court cannot hear the claim, either because the defendant is not subject to jurisdiction in the court or because the claim belongs in a different kind of court. When a defendant moves to dismiss, she asks the court to dismiss the case (usually in its entirety, but sometimes just in part) generally for one of four reasons:
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