Main legal consequence of submitting the answer pleading (or failing to do so) is the commencement of the prohibition of expansion and change of claim and defense.

The legal consequence of submitting these pleadings (or failing to do so) is the exhaustion of the right to raise preliminary objections.

There are three kinds of procedural defenses: objections regarding lack of procedural requirements, preliminary objections and counter-action. 

If a procedural requirement is absent, the opposing party (defendant) may raise an objection until the end of secondary pleadings.

The most common example of objection is the statute of limitations .