Connecticut requests for admission: the thirty days run from the notice, not the request

Nearly every state starts the response clock when the request is served. Connecticut starts it somewhere else, and a party counting from the day the requests arrived can be counting from the wrong day in either direction.

What gets filed is a notice, and that is what starts the clock

Section 13-22(b):

The party serving such request shall not file it with the court but shall instead file a notice with the court which states that the party has served a request for admission on another party, the name of the party to whom the request has been directed and the date upon which service in accordance with Sections 10-12 through 10-17 was made.

Three contents: that a request was served, on whom, and the date of service. The requests themselves stay off the docket.

Then Section 13-23(a) attaches the deadline to that filing:

Each matter of which an admission is requested is admitted unless, within thirty days after the filing of the notice required by Section 13-22 (b), or within such shorter or longer time as the judicial authority may allow, the party to whom the request is directed files and serves upon the party requesting the admission a written answer or objection addressed to the matter, signed by the party or by his attorney.

Thirty days after the filing of the notice. Not after service of the requests.

The two dates are usually close, but they are not the same, and the gap runs in whichever direction the requesting party's filing habits push it. A responding party should look at the docket for the notice rather than at the certificate of service on the requests. A requesting party should file the notice promptly, because until it is filed nothing is running.

Note also that the response is filed and served, and signed "by the party or by his attorney."

Answers go on the original request

Connecticut asks the requesting party to build the answer sheet into the request. Section 13-22(a) requires that a party serving requests:

shall separately set forth each matter of which an admission is requested and unless the request is served electronically as provided in Section 10-13 and in a format that allows the recipient to electronically insert the answers in the transmitted document, shall leave sufficient space following each request in which the party to whom the requests are directed can insert an answer or objection.

And Section 13-23(a) tells the responding party to use it: "Any such answer or objection shall be inserted directly on the original request." Where an answer needs more room than the paper version left, "it shall be continued on a separate sheet of paper which shall be attached to the response."

Two consequences follow.

Drafting matters on both sides. A paper request with no space after each item does not comply, and a responding party faced with one has a point to make before it worries about substance.

Electronic service changes the requirement. Serve electronically in a format the recipient can type into, and the spacing requirement falls away.

The response also needs a wrapper: "The responding party shall attach a cover sheet to the response which shall comply with Sections 4-1 and 4-2 and shall specify those requests to which answers and objections are addressed."

When they can be served, and how many

Section 13-22(a) is generous on both questions:

The request may, without leave of the judicial authority, be served upon any party at any time after the return day. Unless the judicial authority orders otherwise, the frequency of use of requests for admission is not limited.

No numerical cap and no leave requirement — only the return day as a starting point. The scope is the ordinary one: matters "relevant to the subject matter of the pending action" that "relate to statements or opinions of fact or of the application of law to fact, including the existence, due execution and genuineness of any documents described in the request."

Copies of documents are served with the request "unless they have been or are otherwise furnished or made available for inspection and copying."

Answering: what a denial has to do

The answer "shall specifically deny the matter or set forth in detail the reasons why the answering party cannot truthfully admit or deny the matter," and:

A denial shall fairly meet the substance of the requested admission, and when good faith requires that a party qualify his or her answer or deny only a part of the matter of which an admission is requested, such party shall specify so much of it as is true and qualify or deny the remainder.

Lack of knowledge is available only on conditions: the party must state "that he or she has made reasonable inquiry and that the information known or readily obtainable by him or her is insufficient to enable an admission or denial."

And the objection people reach for first is closed:

A party who considers that a matter of which an admission has been requested presents a genuine issue for trial may not, on that ground alone, object to the request; the party may deny the matter or set forth reasons why he or she cannot admit or deny it.

Before moving, you have to certify that you tried

Section 13-23(b) lets the requesting party move to determine the sufficiency of an answer or objection, and then puts a gate in front of the motion:

No such motion shall be placed on the short calendar list until an affidavit by either counsel is filed certifying that bona fide attempts have been made to resolve the differences concerning the subject matter of the motion and that counsel have been unable to reach an accord.

An affidavit, not a paragraph in the motion — and it can come from either counsel. Without it the motion does not reach the short calendar at all.

What follows is the usual pair of outcomes with a third option: unless an objection is justified the court orders an answer; if an answer does not comply "it may order either that the matter is admitted or that an amended answer be served"; and in lieu of either it "may determine that final disposition of the request be made at a designated time prior to trial."

The burden on withdrawal sits with the party who obtained the admission

Section 13-24(a) makes an admission "conclusively established," then states the withdrawal test in a way worth reading twice:

The judicial authority may permit withdrawal or amendment when the presentation of the merits of the action will be subserved thereby and the party who obtained the admission fails to satisfy the judicial authority that withdrawal or amendment will prejudice such party in maintaining his or her action or defense on the merits.

The second condition is phrased as a failure by the opposing party. Once the merits point is made out, it is for the party holding the admission to satisfy the court that withdrawal would prejudice it — not for the party seeking withdrawal to prove the absence of prejudice.

Admissions are also confined to the case: "Any admission made by a party under this section is for the purpose of the pending action only and is not an admission by him or her for any other purpose nor may it be used against him or her in any other proceeding."

Two things an admission does not do, and one it does

Section 13-24(b):

The admission of any matter under this section shall not be deemed to waive any objections to its competency or relevancy. An admission of the existence and due execution of a document, unless otherwise expressed, shall be deemed to include an admission of its delivery, and that it has not since been altered.

Admitting does not waive competency or relevancy. A party that admits a fact can still object at trial that the fact is inadmissible.

But admitting a document reaches further than it appears. Admit existence and due execution and you have also admitted delivery and that the document has not since been altered, unless the answer says otherwise. That is a real trap in a contract case, and the words "unless otherwise expressed" are the whole of the escape.

The cost of a denial that turns out to be wrong

Section 13-25:

If a party fails to admit the genuineness of any document or the truth of any matter as requested herein, and if the party requesting the admissions thereafter proves the genuineness of the document or the truth of the matter, such party may apply to the court for an order requiring the other party to pay the reasonable expenses incurred in making that proof, including reasonable attorney's fees. The judicial authority shall make the order unless it finds that such failure to admit was reasonable.

Note the direction of the default. The court "shall make the order unless it finds that such failure to admit was reasonable." The burden of explaining the denial falls on the party that made it.

A short checklist

If you are serving requests:

1. File the notice promptly. Nothing runs until you do.
2. Leave space after each request, unless you serve electronically in an insertable format.
3. Serve document copies with the request unless they are already available.
4. Certify by affidavit that you tried to resolve it before moving on an answer.
5. Ask for expenses under Section 13-25 if you have to prove what should have been admitted.
6. Remember there is no cap on the number of requests.

If you are responding:

1. Count thirty days from the filing of the notice, and check the docket for it.
2. Insert your answers on the original request, with a compliant cover sheet.
3. Do not object on "genuine issue for trial" alone. Deny, or explain why you cannot.
4. Read document requests carefully. Admitting existence and due execution also admits delivery and no alteration.

Where these rules live

• Conn. Practice Book § 13-22 — Requests for admission
• Conn. Practice Book § 13-23 — Answers and objections
• Conn. Practice Book § 13-24 — Effect of admission
• Conn. Practice Book § 13-25 — Expenses on failure to admit
• Responding to a Connecticut complaint
• Connecticut motion to compel discovery
• Connecticut summary judgment

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and whether a particular failure to admit was reasonable is a question this page does not answer.