• Requests for admissions are part of the discovery process in civil trials.good fellow jury image by Yuriy Rozanov from Fotolia.com
  
  Requests for admissions are a part of the discovery process in civil cases. They are a series of written statements given by one party to the opposing party as a way of establishing some of the facts of the case. For each statement, the opposing party must admit or deny the statement or provide a reason why they don't know or can't otherwise answer. In federal civil courts, requests for admissions are governed by Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP).
  
  

Scope

• Rule 36(a)(1) provides for the scope of the request for admissions. It applies Rule 26(b), the rule detailing the general provisions of discovery. Like other discovery requests, the request for admissions must pertain directly to the facts of the case and cannot be used to obtain privileged information.
  
  

Format

• Each matter must be stated separately and be limited to "facts, the application of law to fact, or opinions about either" or pertain to "the genuineness" of particular documents. If information about a document is requested, the document must also be included in the request.
  
  

Answer

• The receiving party has 30 days to respond to the request for admissions unless the court provides a different deadline. The respondent must specifically admit or deny the accuracy of each statement. Otherwise, the respondent must specifically state why they cannot truthfully admit or deny the statement. Under Rule 36(a)(4), if a respondent does not have sufficient information to respond to a statement, they can only answer as such after making "reasonable inquiry" into the matter. The respondent may also object to specific statements in the request for admission, but they must provide a valid, specific reason for their objection, such as if a statement does not pertain to the case.
  
  

Response

• If the requesting party believes any of the answers or objections are insufficient, they may file a motion of objection with the court. They may also "motion to compel" under Rule 37(a). The court can then order that the answer be served is sufficient or ask the responding party to amend the answer. The court may also delay that decision until a pre-trial conference during which the parties can express their concerns regarding the specific statements in the request. Rule 37 governs sanctions for a party that does not properly respond to requests for admission.
  
  

Amendment and Withdrawal

• Rule 36(b) states that a court can accept amendments to the answers or a withdrawal of specific answers if the changes do not prejudice the requesting party.