Chapter 11-4 Requests for Admissions (RFAs)

11-4 Requests for Admissions (RFAs)

Requests for Admission are often underutilized but carry at least three potential benefits. First, they enable cooperative litigants and their counsel to narrow the issues, saving time and money for both sides. Second, absent a timely response, RFAs are deemed admitted without further action by the parties or the court. Third, they can serve as a powerful tool in setting up at least one interrogatory; to wit, "If you denied any of the Requests for Admissions propounded contemporaneously herewith, state in detail and under oath all facts on which you base your denial." It is one thing for an attorney to stamp "denied" in response to every request to admit. It is quite another for the attorney's client to have to sit down and answer under oath how it is that he and/or his attorney denied, for example, that a signature on a promissory note appearing to be that of the client is not the client's signature.

11-4:1 Propounding RFAs

A party may serve up to 30 written requests upon any other party asking that the latter admit to the "truth of any matter within the scope of [proper discovery]," including "statements or opinions of fact, or of the application of law to fact, including the genuineness of any documents described in the request."²⁵ RFAs may be served upon a plaintiff any time after commencement of an action, and upon other parties either with service of the summons and complaint, or any time thereafter, subject to a discovery cut-off date, which can be determined by the court or, sometimes, agreed to by the parties. RFAs must be drafted carefully and with precision. Compound requests and general sloppiness in formulating the assertion to be admitted can render RFAs useless. As a general rule of thumb, drafters should consider following the allegations of carefully drafted pleadings. Copies of documents must be provided with RFAs unless they have already been provided or made available for inspection and copying.²⁶

11-4:2 Responding to RFAs

Responses to RFAs directed to parties are due within 30 days of service, or within 45 days if served with the summons and complaint. Timely responses to RFAs are of paramount importance. Failure to respond timely constitutes an admission without further action on the part of the court or the party that propounded the RFAs.²⁷ Leave of court is required to withdraw such "technical" admissions, and it is not uncommon for courts to grant such motions in deference to a trial on the...