‘The Forgotten Pleading' Serves As Guide To Determining Best Defense

We have previously explored the teachings by the late U.S. District judge Milton I. Shadur about answering a complaint and pleading affirmative defenses.

We now focus on negative and affirmative defenses as discussed in "The Forgotten Pleading" by 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy J. St. Eve and Michael A. Zuckerman, a former St. Eve law clerk. 7 Fed. Cts. L. Rev. 152 (2013) (available at SSRN).

Like Shadur's teachings in his appendix in State Farm, St. Eve's "The Forgotten Pleading" provides important tips on properly pleading defenses and mastering the answer.

In "The Forgotten Pleading," St. Eve examines the affirmative and negative defenses that can be pleaded in the answer. Often a defendant will plead a grocery list of affirmative defenses, many of which are negative defenses cast as affirmative defenses.