This blog post will discuss filing a motion to have the matters specified in requests for admission deemed admitted in California. This is also known as an order establishing the truth of each matter specified in the requests for admissions that were served on the other party. The matters specified may be the truth of certain facts, or the genuineness of certain documents.
Requests for admissions are very useful in that they allow a party to get certain admissions or denials of issues relevant to the lawsuit on record before the trial, as well as authenticating certain documents. Therefore, if a party can get an order establishing the truth of each matter specified in the requests for admissions, that will greatly increase their chances of prevailing at trial.
Under Code of Civil Procedure Section 2033.280(b), if a party to whom requests for admission are directed fails to serve a response, the propounding party may move the court for an order establishing the truth of each matter specified in the requests for admission, Section 2033.280 contains no time limit for a motion to compel where no responses have been served.
And it is mandatory that the Court grant the order unless code compliant responses are served before the hearing on the motion.
The court shall make this order unless it finds that the party to whom the request for admissions was served, before the hearing on the motion, served a proposed response to the Request for Admissions that is in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220 See Code of Civil Procedure § 2033.280(b).
No informal “meet-and confer” requirement attaches before a party may bring a motion for an order establishing admissions. Demyer v. Costa Mesa Mobile Home Estates (1995) 36 Cal.App.4th 393, 395.
Additionally, there is no time limit on bringing motions to have matters deemed admitted. (Brigante v. Huang (1993) 20 Cal.App.4th 1569, 1584.)
Failure of the responding party to serve the requested responses in “substantial compliance” with the code prior to the hearing on a motion makes it mandatory that the court grant the admissions motion, Demyer, Supra, at pp. 395-396.
No separate statement is required when no response has been provided to the discovery. California Rule of Court 3.1345(b).
It is mandatory that the court impose a monetary sanction under § 2023 on the party or attorney, or both, whose failure to serve a timely response to request for admissions necessitated a aplication for an order establishing admissions. Appleton v. Superior Court (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 632, 634.
Attorneys or parties in the State of California who wish to purchase a sample motion for order having matters deemed admitted can click below.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/77507134/Sample-Motion-to-Have-Matters-Deemed-Admitted
The author of this article, Stan Burman, is a freelance paralegal and legal document assistant with over 15 years of experience in California civil litigation. Mr. Burman may be contacted by e-mail at DivParalgl@yahoo.com for more information. Visit his website at http://www.legaldocspro.net
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