Rule 1028 - Preliminary Objections, 231 Pa. Code r. 1028 (2024)

(a) Preliminary objections may be filed by any party to any pleading and are limited to the following grounds:

(1) lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action or the person of the defendant, improper venue or improper form or service of a writ of summons or a complaint;

(2) failure of a pleading to conform to law or rule of court or inclusion of scandalous or impertinent matter;

(3) insufficient specificity in a pleading;

(4) legal insufficiency of a pleading (demurrer);

(5) lack of capacity to sue, nonjoinder of a necessary party or misjoinder of a cause of action;

(6) pendency of a prior action or agreement for alternative dispute resolution;

(7) failure to exercise or exhaust a statutory remedy; and

(8) full, complete and adequate non-statutory remedy at law.

(b) All preliminary objections shall be raised at one time. They shall state specifically the grounds relied upon and may be inconsistent. Two or more preliminary objections may be raised in one pleading.

(c)

(1) A party may file an amended pleading as of course within twenty days after service of a copy of preliminary objections. If a party has filed an amended pleading as of course, the preliminary objections to the original pleading shall be deemed moot.

(2) The court shall determine promptly all preliminary objections. If an issue of fact is raised, the court shall consider evidence by depositions or otherwise.

(d) If the preliminary objections are overruled, the objecting party shall have the right to plead over within twenty days after notice of the order or within such other time as the court shall fix.

(e) If the filing of an amendment, an amended pleading or a new pleading is allowed or required, it shall be filed within twenty days after notice of the order or within such other time as the court shall fix.

(f) Objections to any amended pleading shall be made by filing new preliminary objections.

231 Pa. Code r. 1028

The provisions of this Rule 1028 adopted June 25, 1946, effective 1/1/1947; amended March 28, 1973, effective 7/1/1973; amended July 18, 1991, effective 1/1/1992, 21 Pa.B. 3400; amended October 24, 2003, effective 9 months after the date of the Order, 33 Pa.B. 5506; amended December 16, 2003, effective 7/1/2004, 34 Pa.B. 9; amended November 2, 2005, effective immediately, 35 Pa.B. 6318; amended June 28, 2016, effective 8/1/2016, 46 Pa.B. 3797.