A request for admission (sometimes also called a request to admit) is a set of statements sent from one litigant to an adversary, for the purpose of having the adversary admit or deny the statements or allegations therein. Requests for admission are part of the

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

process in a civil case. In the U.S. federal court system, they are governed by Rule 36 of the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. They are the companion to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rules promulgated by the ...

Basic structure

Requests for admission are a list of questions which are similar in some respects to

interrogatories In law, interrogatories (also known as requests for further information) are a formal set of written questions propounded by one litigant and required to be answered by an adversary in order to clarify matters of fact and help to determine in ad ...

, but different in form and purpose. Each "question" is in the form of a declarative statement which the answering party must then either admit, deny, or state in detail why they can neither admit nor deny the truthfulness of the statement (e.g. for lack of knowledge, etc.). This effectively puts the admissions in the form of true-false questions. For example, in a case involving an automobile accident, the

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

might include in their request a statement such as "

Defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

Smith was driving a blue Dodge Caravan on the morning of the accident". Under Rule 36(a)(5) of the

, the answering party may also object to the request, and state the reason for their objection, so long as the objection is not solely because the request would present a genuine issue of fact for

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

. Rule 36(a)(1) limits the types of requests to be limited to (A) facts, the application of law to fact, or opinions about either; and (B) the genuineness of any described

documents A document is a written, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ', which denotes a "teaching" or "lesson": ...

. However, the rule places no limits on the number of requests which may be made of either litigant. State court rules, however, may be stricter than this. Notably, under Rule 36(a)(3), requests for admission are automatically deemed admitted in U.S. federal courts if the opponent fails to timely respond or object. The opponent bears the burden of moving for relief from its failure to respond and providing a legitimate excuse for why it did not respond earlier. Some U.S. states have reversed the burden as set forth in the federal rules, such that the party propounding the RFAs must follow up with a motion to have RFAs deemed admitted.

Purpose

Requests for admission help narrow the scope of the controversy by getting certain admissions or denials of issues relevant to the lawsuit on record before a trial takes place. While

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

introduced at trial can be rebutted, admissions which are on record must be taken as true unless the

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

permits them to be withdrawn or amended. Thus, requests for admission can obviate presentation of some evidence and make the actual trial shorter and more efficient. Admissions are also useful at

summary judgment In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...

, as an admission will generally mean that there is no issue of material fact about the question the admission relates to. Also,

have placed 25 questions per party limitations on the use of

, but there is no numerical limit in FRCP on the requests for admission (unless specified differently in Local Rules of the state, which most states do have). In California, requests for admission are generally limited to the numerical limit of 35. However, a party in California who wishes for additional requests for admission may make a declaration for additional discovery.

References

Subrin, Stephen N.; Minow, Martha L.; Brodin, Mark S.; and Main, Thomas O. ''Civil Procedure: Doctrine, Practice, and Context, Second Edition''. p. 332. Aspen Publishers, 2004. {{ISBN, 0-7355-4086-1

External links

Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, from Cornell Law School
Discovery (law) Civil procedure Evidence law