Date: 2007-11-27, Docket: 03-CV-025055 . Master MacLeod, at paras 13 and 14.  [13] | Link

A pleading should not be simply a recitation of facts that may support a defence or counter claim.  Besides admitting the facts that are true and denying those that are not, the party pleading should approach the matter with a clear understanding of the additional facts that constitute a defence and with respect to the counterclaim should have a clear theory of liability and damages.  Assuming the facts exist to support the theory, those are the facts to be included in the pleading.  Because the pleadings establish the boundaries of production and discovery and delimit the issues for trial, the consequences of vague and unfocused pleadings will be exaggerated costs and more difficult pre-trial and trial proceedings. [14]      A reader of pleadings should be left in no doubt what the case is about and what the issues are that must be tried.