The defendant's response to a claim — the options, the deadlines that govern them, and what happens when those deadlines are missed.
A served defendant has limited time and a limited set of moves, and each one carries procedural consequences. This chapter begins with statements of case and the three principal options open to a defendant, then works through the deadlines for acknowledging service and filing a defence, the extensions the parties can agree, and the steps needed to preserve a challenge to the court's jurisdiction. It then turns to default judgment — when it becomes available and when the court must or may set it aside — before examining how a defence is drafted, including the duty to deal with every allegation and the matters that must be specifically pleaded. It closes with set-off, counterclaims and admissions, and the claimant's reply to the defence.
