Q: What is a motion to strike? A: A request for a court order to eliminate all or a portion of the legal pleading. The California Code of Civil Procedure section 435 provides as follows: Any party, within the time allowed to respond to a pleading may serve and file a notice of motion to strike the whole or any part thereof. Similarly, Code of Civil Procedure section 436 provides, in pertinent part: The court may, upon a motion made pursuant to Section 435 * * * (a) Strike out any irrelevant, false, or improper matter inserted in any pleading. (b) Strike out all or any part of any pleading not drawn or filed in conformity with the laws of this state. Additionally, a motion to strike can be used to attack the legal conclusions in a pleading. Such allegations are the conclusions of the pleader, and “irrelevant matter” subject to a motion to strike. A motion to strike is also made verbally during trials and in depositions to request an order to "stricken" the answers by a witness when the answers are in violation of rules of evidence.