Do you have a sample answer letter for a civil summons for a lawsuit?

Answer 1

There is no sample "answer letter for a civil summons", because an Answer, as a pleading is governed by the rules of the court in which the Answer is filed. The exact form of an Answer could be different in each of the 50 state and federal court systems. Also, to be precise, one answers the allegations in the complaint, as opposed to the summons which makes no allegations against the defendant.

Nevertheless a guide to answering a civil complaint is to reply to each numbered allegation one by one. Your reply will say either that you admit or deny the allegations in each paragraph x. If there are allegations where you are not certain whether to admit or deny based on the facts, you would reply that you neither admit nor deny the allegations in paragraph x, but leave plaintiff to its proofs.

Generally, you must use separate paragraphs corresponding to the paragraphs in the complaint. One is not supposed to make a general denial where a defendant writes that he denies all of the allegations of the complaint.

Answer 2

An answer to a civil summons should contain the following:

• The case number
• The plaintiffs name, address, phone number
• Your name, address, phone number
• A list of reasons, laws, statues, etc proving why you do not owe the plaintiff.

Here's an example:

Let's say that you receive the following Complaint:

"On Jan 9th, 2000, Jane Doe did in fact borrow $50 for automotive repairs to a car damaged in an automobile collision. It was agreed that Jane Dow would pay $5 a week for 10 weeks. After two weeks of payments, Jane Doe failed to continue making payments. I'm seeking $40 plus costs associated."

Now you're going to receive this complaint and civil summons to appear. Your answer should look like this:

"On Jan 9th, 2000, I did in fact borrow $50 from John Doe. On January 16th, I paid $5, On January 23rd, I paid $5. However, on January 24th, the plaintiff, Jane Doe, and I drew up a new contract. This contract specifically granted be one year of time before the next payment of $5 was due. I hereby refute this complaint with attached evidence "Exhibit "A"" containing the contract signed by both Jane Doe and myself."

Basically, your complaint needs to list all the reasons why you are not responsible for the "damages" incurred by the plaintiff of the case.