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(d)(3);                                                                         
    (3) Within 60 days after the service of the summons upon him if the          
summons is served upon him personally out of the state in accordance with        
RCW 4.28.180 and 4.28.185 or on the Secretary of State as provided by RCW        
46.64.040.                                                                       
    (4) 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.                                                                       
    (A) 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.                                          
    (B) 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 in 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 the 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 any 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       
(A) if omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in section (g),      
or (B) 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.