One year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Cunningham v. Cornell University, have district courts embraced Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7(a)(7) as a tool to screen out meritless claims before discovery?

In this client alert, Daniel H. Tabak, Christine M. Jordan, and Daniel J. Lee review lower courts' use of Rule 7(a)(7) since Cunningham and offer practical guidance for litigants seeking to avail themselves of the underused mechanism of reply pleadings.