Requests for Admission

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

VI. REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION

Maryland Rule 2-424(a) permits a party to:

[S]erve one or more written requests to any other party for the admission of (1) the genuineness of any relevant documents or electronically stored information described in or exhibited with the request, or (2) the truth of any relevant matters of fact set forth in the request.

Such a request for admission must be answered "within 30 days after service of the request or within 15 days after the date on which that party's initial pleading or motion is required, whichever is later ... ."¹⁸⁵ Unless such a response is made, "[e]ach matter of which an admission is requested shall be deemed admitted ... ."¹⁸⁶ Matters admitted under the Maryland Rule are conclusively established for purposes of the pending action.¹⁸⁷

Requests for admission of facts and genuineness of documents are usually useful only when uncontested facts are at issue. On occasion a party may file requests seeking admission of disputed facts. Unless the answering party is dumb enough to admit away the case, such an exercise usually only...