Is there any case law where a defendant's answer to a civil case is insufficiently pleading the defense of probable cause?

Plaintiff contends defendants' answer insufficiently pleads the defense of probable cause. The point is without merit. The answer was filed November 28, 1955. There was no demurrer to the answer. Pretrial was had a little over two years before commencement of the trial. Plaintiff has not included the pretrial order in the record. Generally, the pretrial order supersedes the pleadings. Baird v. Hodson, 161 Cal.App.2d 687, 690, 327 P.2d 215. We must presume that the pretrial order specified that one of the issues was probable cause.