Filing an Appearance and Answer - Illinois Legal Aid

Filing an Appearance and Answer

This video will instruct you on how to respond to a complaint by filing an appearance, answer, and asking for a jury trial.

Filing an Appearance in a lawsuit is how you tell the court that you will defend the lawsuit.

You can find an Appearance form at the court or online. Just fill it out and file it.

The Summons that you received with your complaint will give you instructions on where and when you must file your Appearance.

Keep in mind that you usually have to pay a fee when your file your appearance. Depending on how much money you make, you may be able to file it for free by asking for a fee waiver.

The Answer is your written response to the Complaint. Usually, the Complaint has numbered paragraphs that give the reasons why you are being sued.

In your answer, you should number your paragraphs just like the complaint and either:

Admit paragraphs that are true, Deny paragraphs that are false, or Say you don't know if you don't know whether a paragraph is true or not.

In your answer, you may also give your defenses to the complaint. Defenses can be factual or legal.

A factual defense is where you argue the facts show that the complaint is untrue. For example, if the complaint says you hit someone with your car in Illinois, but you were out of the state at the time of the accident, that is a factual defense.

A legal defense is where, even if the facts in the complaint are true, you argue there is no violation of the law. Using the car accident example, if you hit someone with your car in Illinois, and the law requires a lawsuit to be filed within 2 years, you would have a legal defense if you were sued more than 2 years after the accident.

Remember that you typically must file your Appearance and Answer by a certain date. Look at the Summons you received with the Complaint to find the date that you must file your Appearance and Answer by. If you don't file by that date, the judge can find against you in the lawsuit without hearing your side of the case.

If you want to ask for a jury trial, you usually can do so when you file your appearance. Whether the judge allows it is based on the court rules and the particular judge. You should check with the court's clerk to find out if you can ask for a jury or not.

For more information on filing an appearance and answer, talk with a lawyer or visit Illinoislegal-aid-dot-org.

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