§ RULE 10. FORM OF PLEADINGS

Codes > South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure > III. Pleadings > RULE 10.

RULE 10. FORM OF PLEADINGS

(a) Caption, Name of Parties. Every pleading shall contain a caption setting forth the name of the State and County, the name of the Court, the title of the action, the file number and a designation as in Rule 7(a). In the summons and complaint the title of the action shall include the names of all parties, but in other pleadings it is sufficient to state the name of the first party on each side with an appropriate indication of other parties.

(1) Unknown Parties. When a party does not know the name of an adverse party he may state that fact in the pleadings and designate such adverse party by any name and the words “whose true name is unknown,” and when his true name is discovered the pleadings must be amended accordingly.

(b) Paragraphs; Separate Statements. All averments of the facts of a cause of action or defense and demands for relief shall be made in consecutive numbered paragraphs, the contents of each of which shall be limited as far as practicable to a statement of a single set of circumstances; and a paragraph may be referred to by number in all succeeding pleadings. Each cause of action and each defense shall be stated in a separate cause of action or defense.

(c) Adoption by Reference; Exhibits. Statements in a pleading may be adopted by reference in a different part of the same pleading or in another pleading or in any motion. A copy of any plat, photograph, diagram, document, or other paper which is an exhibit to a pleading is a part thereof for all purposes if a copy is attached to such pleading.

(d) Manner of Preparing Papers. Pleadings and other papers shall be on legal cap paper, eight and one-half by eleven inches in size. They shall be plainly written with adequate spacing between lines or typewritten with not less than one and one-half spacing between lines. Each page shall be numbered consecutively and pages shall be fastened at the top so as to read continuously. Papers in handwriting or typewriting must have a blank margin of an inch and one-half on the left. Plats, photographs, diagrams, documents, and other paper exhibits or copies thereof may be submitted in their actual size; but should be reduced if practicable to eight and one-half by eleven inches if such reduction does not impair legibility and clarity.

(e) Filing Refused. The clerk of the court shall not file any pleadings or other papers not prepared in accordance with this rule; except plats, photographs, diagrams, documents, and other paper exhibits as provided in paragraph 10(c).