The Oklahoma Bar Journal January 2024

time to respond under §2012(A) and then filed a motion to dismiss for failing to state a claim under §2012(B)(6). The trial court granted the motion to dismiss. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed and found that the unqualified entries of appearance waived the defendants’ right to move to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Following the Young decision, the Oklahoma Legislature adopted Okla. Stat. tit. 12 §2005.2 in 2002, a statute that mandated the filing of an entry of appearance by counsel or a party pro se in “any civil proceeding in the district courts.” This statute also stated, “Filing an entry of appearance as required by this section [did] not waive any defenses enumer ated in subsection B of Section 2012 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes.” But §2005.2 conflicted with §2012(A) because 1) the man datory entry of appearance under §2005.2 did not result in a waiver of §2012(B) defenses, and 2) the filing of “an appearance” under §2012(A) waived certain §2012(B) defenses (as shown in Young ). The Legislature sought to resolve this

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL