The Original Answer

    Some people who are sued will normally respond by filing an “original answer”. Let’s look at how this is usually handled if someone is sued in a Texas state court. First, the person being sued will usually be served with a citation and a copy of the plaintiff’s original petition. (This is known as “the process”.) The purpose of service of citation is to give the defendant an opportunity to appear in court and defend against the lawsuit. Process may be served by a Sheriff’s Deputy or Constable. It also may be served by a private process server. (See Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 103) Assuming that the Defendant doesn’t attempt some sort of pre-Answer filing, such as a special appearance to challenge personal jurisdiction, or other tactic, then he will probably file an “original answer”. By filing the original answer, the defendant enters an appearance before the court, denies the allegations in the plaintiff’s petition, identifies his defenses, and avoids a default judgment. In state district and county courts in Texas, the defendant normally must file his written answer by 10:00am on the first Monday after the expiration of 20 days from the date the defendant was served with the citation. (See Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 99(b).)
   Among other things, the answer should contain what is known as a “general denial”, which is a statement that defendant “generally denies all the allegations in the plaintiff’s petition.” An effect of filing a general denial is to put at issue everything in the plaintiff’s petition that is not required to be denied under oath or specially denied.
   In some cases in Texas, a general denial may not be sufficient to put all of the plaintiff’s allegations at issue, because some matters must be specifically pleaded and verified by affidavit based on personal knowledge. A general denial also does not include various affirmative defenses that may be available to the defendant in some cases. Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 93 contains a list of defenses, pleas, and other matters that must usually be verified by affidavit. Some matters that may need to be specifically pleaded and verified by affidavit include: An attack on the legal capacity of either the plaintiff to sue or the defendant to be sued; a denial of partnership alleged in a pleading for any party to the suit; a denial that a party is incorporated as alleged; or an allegation that a contract is usurious. (See TRCP 93 for other subjects.)
   If a defendant wants to rely on an affirmative defense, he must also specifically plead it. A general denial will not be sufficient to raise this. (See TRCP 94.) Some affirmative defenses include: Accord and satisfaction; arbitration and award; assumption of the risk; contributory negligence; discharge in bankruptcy; duress; estoppel; fraud; illegality; release; statute of frauds; statute of limitations; or waiver. (See TRCP 94 for many possible affirmative defenses.)
   A defendant should also consider including a request for disclosure in his original answer. This is a basic form of discovery, which the Plaintiff has probably already asked you to provide in his original petition. This can be accomplished by including the following language in your original answer: “Pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 194, you are requested to disclose, within 30 days of the service of this request, the information or material described in Rule…{then include what portions of TRCP 194.2 are relevant to your case.}” TRCP 194 requests for disclosure are for matters like the correct names of the parties to the lawsuit (TRCP 194.2(a)), or the name, address, and telephone number of any potential parties (194.2(b)). (Check the text of the rule for more details.)
   A defendant may also have various legal grievances of his own that he can assert a counterclaim or cross claim on. Consult with Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 97 and 38 for some basic information on this issue.
   A defendant could also consider asking for a jury trial, rather than a bench trial, in his original answer.
   The original answer should also include a conclusion, prayer, and signature of the defendant (if the defendant is representing himself).
   A basic original answer may look something like this, in some cases:

{Caption: Use same caption as contained in Plaintiff's Original Petition. It will be something like: Joe Smith, Plaintiff v. John Adams, Defendant, along with court and case number information.}

DEFENDANT’S ORIGINAL ANSWER, REQUEST FOR DISCLOSURE, & REQUEST FOR JURY TRIAL

Defendant, {name of defendant}, files this original answer to plaintiff’s {name of plaintiff} original petition.

General Denial
Defendant generally denies all the allegations in plaintiff’s original petition.

Demand for Jury
Defendant demands a jury trial on all issues and tenders the fee with this answer.

Request for Disclosure
Under the authority of Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 194, defendant requests that plaintiff disclose, within 30 days of the service of this request, the information or material described in Rule 194.2 (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i).

Prayer
For these reasons, defendant asks for the following relief: a judgment that plaintiff take nothing, that the court assess the costs against plaintiff, and that the court award defendant all other relief, in law and in equity, to which defendant is entitled.
Respectfully submitted,

{Defendant Signature, address, and telephone number}