FORM OF PLEADINGS

A. CAPTION; NAMES OF PARTIES. Every pleading shall contain a caption setting forth the name of the court, the title of the action, the file number, and a designation as in subsection A of Section 7 of this act. In the petition the title of the action shall include the names of all the parties, but in other pleadings it is sufficient to state the name of the first party on each side with an appropriate indication of other parties. In a third-party petition the title of the action shall include the names of the parties to the third-party action; a counterclaim and a cross-claim shall include the names of the claimants and the parties against whom the claim is asserted; and a motion and petition in intervention shall include the names of the intervenors and the adverse parties. When a party is suing or being sued in a representative capacity, this should be stated in the title of the action.

B. PARAGRAPHS; SEPARATE STATEMENTS. All averments of claim or defense shall be made in numbered paragraphs, the contents of each of which shall be limited as far as practicable to a statement of a single set of circumstances; and a paragraph may be referred to by number in all succeeding pleadings. Each claim founded upon a separate transaction or occurrence and each defense other than denials shall be stated in a separate count or defense whenever a separation facilitates the clear presentation of the matters set forth.

C. ADOPTION BY REFERENCE; EXHIBITS. Statements in a pleading may be adopted by reference in a different part of the same pleading or in another pleading or in any motion. A copy of any written instrument which is an exhibit to a pleading is a part thereof for all purposes.

Added by Laws 1984, c. 164, § 10, eff. Nov. 1, 1984.