Legal Definitions - specific denial

A specific denial is a formal response in a legal case where a party, typically the defendant, explicitly challenges or refutes only particular statements or allegations made by the opposing party, rather than denying all claims outright. Instead of issuing a broad rejection of everything asserted, the responding party carefully identifies which specific facts or parts of an allegation they dispute, while implicitly or explicitly accepting others as true or not contested. This approach helps to narrow down the issues that truly need to be proven or argued in court.

• Example 1: Contract Dispute

  Imagine a plaintiff sues a contractor, claiming, "The contractor failed to complete the kitchen renovation by the agreed-upon date of June 1st, causing a delay of three weeks and requiring me to pay an additional $2,000 for temporary housing."

  The contractor might issue a specific denial stating, "We admit that the kitchen renovation was not completed by June 1st, but we specifically deny that this delay caused the plaintiff to incur $2,000 in temporary housing costs, as the plaintiff had already planned to be out of the house during that period for a pre-scheduled vacation."

  This illustrates a specific denial because the contractor acknowledges the delay (a specific fact) but precisely disputes the claim regarding the financial damages for temporary housing, narrowing the focus of the dispute to the financial impact rather than the delay itself.

• Example 2: Personal Injury Claim

  Consider a plaintiff suing for injuries after a car accident, alleging, "The defendant negligently ran a red light at the intersection of Oak and Main Streets, striking my vehicle and causing me a broken arm and $15,000 in medical expenses."

  The defendant's specific denial might state, "We admit that our vehicle was involved in a collision with the plaintiff's car at the intersection of Oak and Main Streets, and we acknowledge the plaintiff may have sustained a broken arm and incurred medical expenses. However, we specifically deny that our driver ran a red light or acted negligently, asserting that the plaintiff was at fault."

  Here, the defendant uses a specific denial by admitting the collision, the injury, and the medical expenses, but crucially denies the core allegation of negligence and running a red light. This focuses the legal battle on who was at fault for the accident, rather than whether an accident occurred or if injuries resulted.

• Example 3: Property Dispute

  A property owner files a complaint stating, "The neighbor has been illegally dumping yard waste onto my property every weekend for the past two months, creating an unsightly mess and attracting pests."

  The neighbor could respond with a specific denial: "We admit to placing yard waste on the plaintiff's property on weekends, but we specifically deny that this action is illegal, as we have a verbal agreement allowing us to use that specific corner of the property for composting. We also deny that our yard waste has created an unsightly mess or attracted pests."

  This is a specific denial because the neighbor admits to the act of placing yard waste on the property but directly challenges the claims that the action is "illegal," "unsightly," or "attracts pests." The dispute then centers on the legality of the action and its alleged consequences, not whether the waste was placed there.