Answering Requests for Admission under Rule 36: A Strategic Practitioners Guide

42 questions on answering requests for admission under rule 36, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are boilerplate general objections at the front of a response effective?
• Are requests for admission a discovery device that gathers new information?
• Can a court deny withdrawal of an admission even when both prongs of the test are met?
• Can a request for admission ask me to admit a legal conclusion?
• Can a request for admission make me concede that the court has jurisdiction or that my client is liable?
• Can a request for admission reach expert opinions, causation, or regulatory compliance?
• Can a Rule 36 admission be used against me in a different lawsuit or proceeding?
• Can I be required to admit a proposition of foreign law?
• Can I refuse to answer because the request presents a genuine issue for trial?
• Can I respond that I lack knowledge or information to admit or deny?
• Can I undo admissions caused by missing the deadline?
• Can the 30-day deadline to respond be extended?
• Do I have to supplement or correct an admission if I later learn it was wrong?
• How can an admission be withdrawn or amended?
• How do I authenticate a document without conceding that its contents are true?
• How do requests for admission differ from interrogatories?
• How long do I have to respond to requests for admission?
• Is there a limit on how many requests for admission a party can serve?
• My opponent's denial is flatly false — can I move to have the matter deemed admitted?
• What are the exceptions to Rule 37(c)(2) cost-shifting for a failure to admit?
• What are the permissible ways to answer a request for admission?
• What are the three proper purposes of a request for admission?
• What can I do if I am served with hundreds of abusive requests for admission?
• What counts as prejudice that defeats a motion to withdraw an admission?
• What does a good-faith denial of a request for admission require?
• What does it mean that a Rule 36 admission is conclusively established?
• What does Rule 26(g) require when I sign requests-for-admission responses?
• What does the reasonable-inquiry duty require before I can plead lack of knowledge?
• What happens if I miss the 30-day deadline to respond to requests for admission?
• What is a motion to determine the sufficiency of a response under Rule 36(a)(6)?
• What is a qualified or partial response, and when must I use one?
• What is a request for admission under Rule 36?
• What is the difference between a pure question of law and an application of law to fact?
• What is the penalty for denying a request I should have admitted?
• What is the permissible scope of a request for admission?
• What is the two-part test for withdrawing or amending an admission under Rule 36(b)?
• What objections can I properly raise to a request for admission?
• What three motions arise in requests-for-admission practice?
• When and how do I move for costs under Rule 37(c)(2)?
• When should I admit a request for admission instead of denying it?
• Who can be served with requests for admission?
• Why are requests for admission so powerful at summary judgment?