Rule 8.02: Defenses — Form of Denials.

A party shall state in short and plain terms his or her defenses to each claim asserted and shall admit or deny the averments upon which the adverse party relies. If the party is without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of an averment, he or she shall so state and this will have the effect of a denial. Denials shall fairly meet the substance of the averments denied. When a pleader intends in good faith to deny only a part or a qualification of an averment, the pleader shall specify so much of it as is true and material and shall deny only the remainder. [Amended by order filed January 13, 2012, effective July 1, 2012.]

Advisory Commission Comments [2012].

The change to Rule 8.02 eliminates the rarely used possibility of a responsive pleading that denies all averments, including denying the identities of the parties to a suit.