Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings: Rule 12(c) Standard, Timing, and 12(b)(6)

A motion for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) asks the court to rule on the case from the pleadings alone, after they close. Most circuits apply the same test used for a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. The practical differences are timing, what the court may look at, and the fact that the plaintiff can file one too.

What Rule 12(c) says

The text of FRCP 12(c) is short: "After the pleadings are closed—but early enough not to delay trial—a party may move for judgment on the pleadings." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(c). Three phrases carry the weight.

• "After the pleadings are closed." This is the timing gate, covered next.
• "Early enough not to delay trial." The rule sets no fixed deadline. Scheduling orders and local rules often set a dispositive-motion cutoff, and a judge can deny a late 12(c) motion as a delay tactic. Check the scheduling order first.
• "A party." Either side may file. What follows is federal practice. State rules with the same name often track it, but confirm yours.

When the pleadings are closed: the premature-motion trap

A common 12(c) mistake is filing too early. The pleadings are the documents listed in Rule 7(a): a complaint, an answer to a complaint, an answer to a counterclaim designated as a counterclaim, an answer to a crossclaim, a third-party complaint, an answer to a third-party complaint, and, if the court orders one, a reply to an answer. Pleadings close when the last of the pleadings actually in your case has been filed.

In a two-party case with no counterclaim, that is the answer. Add a counterclaim and the pleadings stay open until the plaintiff answers it. A motion to dismiss is not a pleading, so serving one does not close anything, and a defendant who has only moved under 12(b) has no basis for a 12(c) motion yet.

A premature motion invites denial on timing alone and spends credibility you may want later. Count the pleadings first.

The judgment on the pleadings standard: borrowed from 12(b)(6)

Rule 12(c) does not state a standard. Courts borrowed one. The Fifth Circuit: "A motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c) is subject to the same standard as a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6)." Doe v. MySpace, Inc., 528 F.3d 413 (5th Cir. 2008). The Ninth Circuit has said Rule 12(c) is "functionally identical" to Rule 12(b)(6) and that "the same standard of review" applies to both, and on that footing it applied the plausibility standard of Iqbal to a Rule 12(c) dismissal. Cafasso v. General Dynamics C4 Systems, Inc., 637 F.3d 1047 (9th Cir. 2011) (footnote 4, quoting Dworkin v. Hustler Magazine Inc., 867 F.2d 1188, 1192 (9th Cir. 1989)).

So the question is whether, accepting the well-pleaded facts as true and drawing reasonable inferences for the non-movant, the pleadings state a plausible claim, or a plausible defense, that survives. If you have briefed a motion to dismiss, you know the frame. The motion to dismiss guide covers it in full, and responding to a motion to dismiss covers the other chair. Your circuit may phrase the test a little differently, so pull its own statement of the 12(c) standard and cite that. Our guide to finding controlling authority walks through how.

When the complaint and the answer disagree

This is where 12(c) practice departs from 12(b)(6). On a 12(b)(6) motion the court has one pleading in front of it. On 12(c) it has the complaint and the answer, and the answer usually denies much of what the complaint says.

The Ninth Circuit puts it this way: "the allegations of the non-moving party must be accepted as true, while the allegations of the moving party which have been denied are assumed to be false." Hal Roach Studios, Inc. v. Richard Feiner & Co., 896 F.2d 1542 (9th Cir. 1990). The same opinion states when judgment is proper: "when the moving party clearly establishes on the face of the pleadings that no material issue of fact remains to be resolved and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."

Two consequences follow.

1. A defendant moving on the complaint takes the complaint's facts as true and wins only if those facts fail to state a claim, or if the pleadings show an unanswerable defense.
2. A plaintiff moving on the answer cannot rely on the complaint's allegations the answer denies. Under Rule 8(b)(6), an allegation, other than one relating to the amount of damages, "is admitted if a responsive pleading is required and the allegation is not denied." Admissions are the plaintiff's raw material. A general denial usually ends the motion.

That formulation comes from the Ninth Circuit. Other circuits may phrase it differently, so confirm yours before you rely on it.

The second bite: a 12(c) motion after the answer

A defendant who files a pre-answer Rule 12 motion generally has to put every available Rule 12 defense in it. Rule 12(g)(2) says that, except as provided in Rule 12(h)(2) or (3), a party that makes a Rule 12 motion "must not make another motion under this rule raising a defense or objection that was available to the party but omitted from its earlier motion."

The exception is the point. Rule 12(h)(2) provides that "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, to join a person required by Rule 19(b), or to state a legal defense to a claim may be raised" in any Rule 7(a) pleading, "by a motion under Rule 12(c)," or at trial.

So a defendant who moved only on personal jurisdiction, and lost, has not waived failure to state a claim. It can plead it in the answer and then raise it again by a 12(c) motion. Other defenses do not get that treatment. Under Rule 12(h)(1), a party waives the defenses in Rule 12(b)(2) through (5), including personal jurisdiction, by omitting them from a Rule 12 motion in the circumstances 12(g)(2) describes. Subject-matter jurisdiction is different again: under Rule 12(h)(3), if the court determines "at any time" that it lacks it, "the court must dismiss the action." The answer guide has the full table.

Rule 12(d): the conversion trap

A 12(c) motion can turn into a different motion when the movant attaches evidence. Rule 12(d) says: "If, on a motion under Rule 12(b)(6) or 12(c), matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion must be treated as one for summary judgment under Rule 56." Each party then gets a reasonable opportunity to present pertinent material.

Not everything attached is "outside." Rule 10(c) makes a copy of a written instrument that is an exhibit to a pleading "a part of the pleading for all purposes." A contract attached to the complaint is inside. A declaration, a deposition excerpt, or a spreadsheet you built is outside. The Supreme Court has also said that the sources courts ordinarily examine on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion include "documents incorporated into the complaint by reference, and matters of which a court may take judicial notice." Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., 551 U.S. 308, 322 (2007). Courts differ on how far those two categories reach, so confirm your court's practice before relying on either.

Conversion is the judge's decision, but your motion invites it. If you want a pleadings-only ruling, attach nothing that is not a pleading exhibit. If you want summary judgment, file under Rule 56 and meet its burden, which our summary judgment standard post covers.

What 12(c) can and cannot do with defenses

Limitations, res judicata, and release are among the affirmative defenses listed in Rule 8(c)(1), and a plaintiff need not plead around them. But the Supreme Court has explained how they can still end a case on the pleadings: "Whether a particular ground for opposing a claim may be the basis for dismissal for failure to state a claim depends on whether the allegations in the complaint suffice to establish that ground, not on the nature of the ground in the abstract." Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 215 (2007). And: "If the allegations, for example, show that relief is barred by the applicable statute of limitations, the complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim; that does not make the statute of limitations any less an affirmative defense."

That is the opening for a partial 12(c) motion. If the complaint itself shows that the claim accrued outside the limitations period, plead the defense in the answer (see affirmative defenses) and then move on that count alone. Whether your court will enter partial judgment this way is a local-practice question, so check. If the defense needs a fact the complaint does not contain, the motion fails and the question belongs in discovery.

Motion for judgment on the pleadings vs. 12(b)(6) and Rule 56

Use 12(b)(6) when you can win before answering. Use 12(c) when you have answered, the complaint's defect shows on its face, and you want to avoid discovery cost without waiting for a Rule 56 record. Use Rule 56 when the case turns on facts. A plaintiff's best 12(c) case is an answer that admits the operative facts and offers only a legal defense that fails.

One more option: if the defect is in a single defense, ask whether a motion to strike fits better. Rule 12(f) is limited to "an insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter."

Frequently asked questions

When can you file a motion for judgment on the pleadings?

Rule 12(c) allows the motion "after the pleadings are closed" but "early enough not to delay trial." The pleadings close once every Rule 7(a) pleading in the case has been filed: usually the complaint and the answer, plus any answer to a counterclaim. A motion filed before that point is premature.

Is a Rule 12(c) motion the same as a 12(b)(6) motion?

The legal test is the same in most circuits. The Fifth and Ninth Circuits have both said so. The differences are timing and record: 12(b)(6) comes before the answer and looks at the complaint, while 12(c) comes after the answer and can look at the whole set of pleadings, including the answer.

Can a plaintiff file a motion for judgment on the pleadings?

Yes. Rule 12(c) says "a party," not a defendant. A plaintiff can move on the answer when it admits the material facts and pleads no legally sufficient defense. Because the answer's denials are taken as true against the plaintiff, the motion usually works only when the defendant has admitted the key facts.

What happens if the court considers evidence on a 12(c) motion?

Under Rule 12(d), if matters outside the pleadings are presented and the court does not exclude them, the motion must be treated as one for summary judgment under Rule 56. All parties must then get a reasonable opportunity to present pertinent material. If you want a pleadings-only ruling, attach nothing that is not part of the pleadings.

Can you raise failure to state a claim after you have answered?

Yes. Under Rule 12(h)(2), failure to state a claim may be raised in any Rule 7(a) pleading, by a Rule 12(c) motion, or at trial. A defendant who skipped it in an earlier Rule 12 motion is not barred by Rule 12(g)(2), because that rule carves out 12(h)(2).

Before you file it

A 12(c) brief is usually short, and it rises or falls on its authority: the circuit's statement of the standard and a handful of cases applying it to your kind of claim. With the complaint and answer in a CaseRead matter, the research chat works from the actual pleadings, and the citing-case screen surfaces later treatment of the cases you plan to cite. Then put the finished brief through the Hallucination Shield. It is free, needs no signup, and checks up to 50 citations per run, flagging any it cannot verify. It does not judge whether you described a holding correctly, so read what you cite. Opposing counsel will check your cites, and our guide to catching fake citations shows how the other side goes about it.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice. For guidance on a specific case, consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction.