12.06 Motion to strike

If someone believes part of a legal filing is unfair, sloppy, or doesn't belong in the case, they can ask the judge to remove it. This is called a motion to strike. It lets a party get rid of weak legal defenses, fake claims, repeated information, or content that has nothing to do with the case, including language that's overly harsh or insulting.

There are time limits on when a party can make this request. If a party plans to file a response to the pleading, they need to ask before they do that. If no response is normally allowed for that type of filing, the party has 20 days after being served with the pleading to make the request. These deadlines make sure problems get flagged early, before the case moves forward.

The judge doesn't have to wait for someone to ask. At any point, the court can decide on its own to remove problematic material from a filing. This helps keep the case focused on real issues and prevents one side from padding their filings with irrelevant or harmful content.