Sec. 1.724  Answers.

    (a) Any carrier upon which a copy of a formal complaint, 
supplemental complaint, amended complaint, or cross complaint is served 
under this subpart shall answer within 30 days of service of the 
pleading to which the answer is made, unless otherwise directed by the 
Commission.
    (b) The answer shall advise the parties and the Commission fully and 
completely of the nature of any defense, and shall respond specifically 
to all material allegations of the complaint. Collateral or immaterial 
issues shall be avoided in answers and every effort should be made to 
narrow the issues. Any party failing to file and serve an answer within 
the time and in the manner prescribed by these rules may be deemed in 
default and an order may be entered against defendant in accordance with 
the allegations contained in the complaint.
    (c) A party shall state concisely its defenses to each claim 
asserted and shall admit or deny the averments on which the adverse 
party relies. If the party is without knowledge or information 
sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of an averment, the party 
shall so state and this has the effect of a denial. When a pleader 
intends in good faith to deny only part of an averment, the pleader 
shall specify so much of it as is true and shall deny only the 
remainder. The pleader may make its denials as specific denials of 
designated averments or paragraphs, or may generally deny all the 
averments except such designated averments or paragraphs as the pleader 
expressly admits. When the pleader intends to controvert

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all averments, the pleader may do so by general denial.
    (d) Averments in a pleading to which a responsive pleading is 
required, other than those as to the amount of damages, are deemed to be 
admitted when not denied in this responsive pleading.
    (e) Affirmative defenses to allegations contained in the complaint 
shall be specifically captioned as such and presented separately from 
any denials made in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section.
[ 53 FR 11853 , Apr. 11, 1988, as amended at  58 FR 25572 , Apr. 27, 1993]