Legal Definitions - specific denial

Specific denial is a legal term used when a defendant denies specific material facts that are stated in the plaintiff's complaint. This means that the defendant is only denying certain parts of the allegations made against them, rather than denying everything.

For example, if a plaintiff sues a defendant for breach of contract, the defendant may specifically deny that they breached the contract, but they may not deny other parts of the complaint, such as the existence of the contract or the damages claimed by the plaintiff.

Another example could be in a personal injury case, where the defendant may specifically deny that they were negligent in causing the plaintiff's injuries, but they may not deny that the plaintiff was injured or that the injuries were caused by the defendant's actions.

These examples illustrate how a specific denial is used to challenge only certain parts of a plaintiff's complaint, rather than denying everything. This allows the defendant to focus their defense on the specific issues that are in dispute, rather than wasting time and resources on issues that are not in dispute.