Requests for Admissions

Rule 36 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure allows parties to request that parties admit to certain facts or the authenticity of certain documents.  Pursuant to Rule 36 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure and the Mississippi Supreme Court’s holding in In Re Marriage of Leverrock & Hamby,  2008-CA-00093-SCT (Dec. 3, 2009),  a matter is admitted unless, within thirty days after service of the request, the party to whom the request is directed serves upon the party requesting the admission a written answer or objection addressed to the matter, signed by the party or his attorney.  The Court opined at that time that a judge does not have the discretion to deem the matter admitted, because a request is conclusively established upon a party’s failure to answer within thirty days, or such time as the judge has determined appropriate pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 36(b) unless withdrawal or amendment by the Court is granted. 

There are a number of cases floating around on requests for admissions.  Without getting into all the specifics, it appears that if for some reason the deadline slips by, you better file with leave of the court to withdraw the admissible.  If you do not file for leave to withdraw the admissions, you are stuck with them which will allow summary judgment to be granted.  (See Young v. Smith, 67 So.3d 732 (Miss. 2011).  This case needs to be stuck in your research file somewhere.  From my reading of this opinion, if you file to withdraw them, it is discretionary with the Court but the Court should allow you to if you have a legitimate reason for failing to respond.  If you don’t have a good excuse, you are stuck with them. As such, my standard practice for years has been to get responses out signed by the client within ten (10) days of receipt with a copy of the same faxed to opposing counsel that day.  

If a party denies a request, and you later prove the matter, you are entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses in proving the same.  My experience has been that the best use of these is for the admission of documents.  The requests have to be drafted very narrowly though.  If there is anything that is arguable about the request, the same can be routinely denied safely without having to worry about paying attorney’s fees.   This is extremely helpful in domestic cases where you have large volumes of documents that need to be admitted for evidentiary reasons and likewise in personal injury cases.