California Pedestrian Accident Attorney - Discovery; Request For Admissions

WHAT ARE REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION?
Your California pedestrian accident attorney may, at some time during the discovery process, serve the other party involved in the accident with requests for admissions. Remember, the Plaintiff has the burden of proof in a case. The Plaintiff will try to dispose of many elements of that burden prior to trial by getting the other side to admit certain facts. Likewise, Defendant attempts to establish that some elements of Plaintiff's burden of proof cannot be established by Plaintiff. This discovery tool is set forth in the California Code of Civil Procedure.
1. In each case the other side will serve their opponent with a discovery tool called Requests for Admissions. One party makes a written request of the other to respond to a series of questions about the pedestrian accident. These questions may ask the other party to admit:
a. The genuiness of a document. In other words, that it is authentic. (For instance, that a birth certificate is authentic).
b. The truth of a specified matter of fact related to the accident.
c. Opinion relating to fact.
d. Application of law to fact.

WHO MAY MAKE SUCH A REQUEST?
Both Plaintiff and Defendant make requests for admission without leave of the court. The Defendant may make the request at any time, but a Plaintiff must wait until at least 10 days after the service of the summons on the Defendant.

HOW MANY QUESTIONS MAY A PARTY ASK?
No party may ask, as a matter of right, that the other admit more than thirty-five matters. (There is no such restriction on admitting the genuiness of documents except "as justice requires to protect the responding party from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden and expense.").

A party may ask for a greater number of admissions by attaching the following declaration to his request for admissions:

DECLARATION FOR ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY
I, _______, declare:
1. I am (a party to this action or proceeding appearing in propria persona) (presently the California personal injury attorney for ______, a party to this action or proceeding).

2. I am propounding to ____ the attached set of requests for admission.

3. This set of requests for admission will cause the total number of requests propounded to the party to whom they are directed to exceed the number of requests permitted by paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of the California Code of Civil Procedure.

4. I have previously propounded a total of ____ requests for admission to this party.

5. This set of requests for admission contains a total of ____ requests.

6. I am familiar with the issues and the previous discovery conducted by all of the parties in this case.

7. I have personally examined each of the requests in this set of requests for admission.

8. This number of requests for admission is warranted under paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of the California Code of Civil Procedure because ____. (Here state the reasons why the complexity or the quantity of issues in the instant lawsuit warrant this number of requests for admission.)

9. None of the requests in this set of requests is being propounded for any improper purpose, such as to harass the party, or the California personal injury attorney for the party, to whom it is directed, or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of California that the foregoing is true and correct, and that this declaration was executed on _____.

_______________________________________
(Signature)

Attorney for _________________________