RULE 12
                  DEFENSES AND OBJECTIONS

    (a) When Presented. A defendant shall serve his answer within the
following periods:
    (1) Within 20 days, exclusive of the day of service, after the service
of the summons and complaint upon him pursuant to rule 4;
    (2) Within 60 days from the date of the first publication of the
summons if the summons is served by publication in accordance with rule 4;
    (3) Within the period fixed by any other applicable statutes or rules.
A party served with a pleading stating a cross claim against him shall
serve an answer thereto within 20 days after the service upon him. The
plaintiff shall serve his reply to a counterclaim in the answer within 20
days after service of the answer or, if a reply is ordered by the court,
within 20 days after service of the order, unless the order otherwise
directs. The service of a motion permitted under this rule alters these
periods of time as follows, unless a different time is fixed by order of
the court.
    (i) If the court denies the motion or postpones its disposition until
the trial on the merits, the responsive pleading shall be served within 10
days after notice of the courts action.
    (ii) If the court grants a motion for a more definite statement, the
responsive pleading shall be served within 10 days after the service of the
more definite statement.
    (b) How Presented. Every defense, in law or fact, to a claim for relief
in any pleading, whether a claim, counterclaim, cross claim, or third party
claim, shall be asserted by the responsive pleading thereto if one is
required, except that the following defenses may at the option of the
pleader be made by motion: (1) lack of jurisdiction over the subject
matter, (2) lack of jurisdiction over the person, (3) improper venue, (4)
insufficiency of process, (5) insufficiency of service of process, (6)
failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, (7) failure to
join a party under rule 19. A motion making any of these defenses shall be
made before pleading if a further pleading is permitted. No defense or
objection is waived by being joined with one or more other defenses or
objections in a responsive pleading or motion. If a pleading sets forth a
claim for relief to which the adverse party is not required to serve a
responsive pleading, he may assert at the trial any defense in law or fact
to that claim for relief. If, on a motion asserting the defense numbered
(6) to dismiss for failure of the pleading to state a claim upon which
relief can be granted, matters outside the pleading are presented to and
not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary
judgment and disposed of as provided in rule 56 and all parties shall be
given reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such
a motion by rule 56.
    (c) Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. After the pleadings are
closed but within such time as not to delay the trial, any party may move
for judgment on the pleadings. If, on a motion for judgment on the
pleadings, matters outside the pleadings are presented to and not excluded
by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment and
disposed of as provided in rule 56, and all parties shall be given
reasonable opportunity to present all material made pertinent to such a
motion by rule 56.
    (d) Preliminary Hearings. The defenses specifically enumerated (1)-(7)
in section (b) of this rule, whether made in a pleading or by motion, and
the motion for judgment mentioned in section (c) of this rule shall be
heard and determined before trial on application of any party, unless the
court orders that the hearing and determination thereof be deferred until
the trial.
    (e) Motion for More Definite Statement. If a pleading to which a
responsive pleading is permitted is so vague or ambiguous that a party
cannot reasonably be required to frame a responsive pleading, or if more
particularity in that pleading will further the efficient economical
disposition of the action, he may move for a more definite statement before
interposing his responsive pleading. The motion shall point out the defects
complained of and the details desired. If the motion is granted and the
order of the court is not obeyed within 10 days after notice of the order
or within such other time as the court may fix, the court may strike the
pleading to which the motion was directed or make such order as it deems
just.
    (f) Motion To Strike. Upon motion made by a party before responding to
a pleading or, if no responsive pleading is permitted by these rules, upon
motion made by a party within 20 days after the service of the pleading
upon him or upon the courts own initiative at any time, the court may order
stricken from any pleading any insufficient defense or any redundant,
immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter.
    (g) Consolidation of Defenses in Motion. A party who makes a motion
under this rule may join with it other motions herein provided for and then
available to him. If a party makes a motion under this rule but omits
therefrom any defense or objection then available to him which this rule
permits to be raised by motion, he shall not thereafter make a motion based
on the defense or objection so omitted, except a motion as provided in
subsection (h)(2) hereof on any of the grounds there stated.
    (h) Waiver or Preservation of Certain Defenses.
    (1) A defense of lack of jurisdiction over the person, improper venue,
insufficiency of process, or insufficiency of service of process is waived
(i) if omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in section (g),
or (ii) if it is neither made by motion under this rule nor included in a
responsive pleading or an amendment thereof permitted by rule 15(a) to be
made as a matter of course.
    (2) A defense of failure to state a claim upon which relief can be
granted, a defense of failure to join a party indispensable under rule 19,
and an objection of failure to state a legal defense to a claim may be made
in any pleading permitted or ordered under rule 7(a), or by motion for
judgment on the pleadings, or at the trial on the merits.
    (3) Whenever it appears by suggestion of the parties or otherwise that
the court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter, the court shall dismiss
the action.
    (i) Nonparty at Fault. Whenever a defendant or a third party defendant
intends to claim for purposes of RCW 4.22.070(1) that a nonparty is at
fault, such claim is an affirmative defense which shall be affirmatively
pleaded by the party making the claim. The identity of any nonparty claimed
to be at fault, if known to the party making the claim, shall also be
affirmatively pleaded.