The North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure require a pleading setting forth a claim for relief to include "a short and plain statement of the claim sufficiently particular to give the court and the parties notice of the transactions, occurrences, or series of transactions or occurrences, intended to be proved." N.C.G.S. 1A-1, Rule 8(a) (1999). Under this "'notice theory'" of pleading, a pleading must give "sufficient notice of the events or transactions which produced the claim to enable the adverse party to understand the nature of it and the basis for it, to file a responsive pleading, and . . . to get any additional information he may need to prepare for trial." Sutton v. Duke, 277 N.C. 94, 104, 176 S.E.2d 161, 167 (1970).