The Iowa motion to compel: if nobody resists it, the court can grant it unheard

Iowa's Rule 1.517 contains two provisions that change how these motions actually run.

If the time to resist passes with no resistance filed, the court "may grant the motion without a hearing." And every order granting a motion to compel "shall include a statement" that failing to comply may bring sanctions.

The first means an unopposed motion can be granted quickly. The second means the resulting order carries its own warning — which matters when you come back to enforce it.

Grant without a hearing

Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.517(1)(b)(4):

Default; notice; protective orders. If a motion to compel is filed and the time for resistance of that motion has expired without a resistance having been filed, the court may grant the motion without a hearing.

Two consequences, depending which side you are on.

As movant, a well-drafted motion that draws no resistance can produce an order without waiting for a hearing date.

As respondent, letting the resistance deadline pass is not a neutral act. There may be no hearing at which to make your argument.

The order must warn

Rule 1.517(1)(b)(5):

Sanctions. Any order granting a motion made under this rule shall include a statement that a failure to comply with the order may result in the imposition of sanctions pursuant to rule 1.517.

"Shall include" — so if you are drafting the proposed order, put the statement in. And if you are facing an order that omits it, that is worth noting before any later sanctions motion is heard.

What can be compelled

Rule 1.517(1)(b)(2):

To compel a discovery response. If a deponent fails to answer a question propounded or submitted under rule 1.701 or 1.710, or a corporation or other entity fails to make a designation under rule 1.707 (5), or a party fails to answer an interrogatory submitted under rule 1.509, or if a party, in response to a request for inspection submitted under rule 1.512, fails to produce documents, or fails to respond that inspection will be permitted, or fails to permit inspection, the party seeking discovery may move for an order compelling an answer, a designation, or an inspection in accordance with the request.

And Rule 1.517(1)(b)(1) adds a separate route for disclosures:

To compel disclosure. If a party fails to make a disclosure required by rule 1.500, any other party may move to compel disclosure and for appropriate sanctions.

The disclosure limb allows you to seek sanctions in the same motion, not merely an order.

Rule 1.517(1)(b)(3): "When taking a deposition on oral examination, the proponent of the question may complete or adjourn the examination before moving for an order."

Rule 1.517(1)(c): "For purposes of this rule an evasive or incomplete answer is to be treated as a failure to answer."

Where to file

Rule 1.517(1)(a):

Appropriate court. A motion for an order to a party may be made to the court in which the action is pending, or, on matters relating to a deposition, to the court in the district where the deposition is being taken. A motion for an order to a deponent who is not a party shall be made to the court in the district where the deposition is being taken.

The non-party rule is mandatory — "shall be made" — and Iowa measures by district, not county.

Fees, and the late-production trap

Rule 1.517(1)(d)(1):

If the motion is granted, or if the disclosure or requested discovery is provided after the motion was filed, the court shall, after opportunity for hearing, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining the order, including attorney's fees, unless the court finds that the opposition to the motion

Two points.

The award is mandatory — "the court shall" — subject to the exceptions the subsection goes on to state.

Producing after the motion is filed does not avoid it. The provision applies equally "if the disclosure or requested discovery is provided after the motion was filed." A party that waits for a motion before complying is still exposed.

That combination — mandatory fees, triggered even by late compliance — makes the Iowa motion a real lever. It also means a respondent who intends to comply should do so before a motion is filed, not after.

A denied motion can produce a protective order

Rule 1.517(1)(b)(6):

Protective order. In ruling on such motion, the court may make such protective order as it would have been empowered to make on a motion pursuant to rule 1.504 (1).

Before you file

1. Confirm proper service and that the response period has run — see responding to an Iowa complaint for the case timetable.
2. Decide which limb applies — a rule 1.500 disclosure, or a discovery response. The disclosure limb lets you ask for sanctions at the same time.
3. File in the right court, by district, and remember a non-party deponent is mandatory.
4. Draft the proposed order with the sanctions statement in it, as (b)(5) requires.
5. Diary the resistance deadline. If it passes, ask the court to grant the motion without a hearing.

If a default judgment has already been entered against you, note that Iowa's window is the shortest in the country — see setting aside an Iowa default judgment.

How Iowa compares

A short checklist

1. Pick the limb — disclosure under rule 1.500, or a discovery response.
2. File in the district where the deposition is taken for any non-party motion.
3. Include the sanctions statement in the proposed order.
4. Watch the resistance deadline — an unresisted motion can be granted unheard.
5. Quote rule 1.517(1)(c) where the answer was evasive or incomplete.
6. Remember late compliance does not defeat the fee claim, and say so in the motion.
7. Complete or adjourn a deposition before moving.
8. As respondent, resist in time or comply before the motion is filed — those are the two ways to avoid the mandatory award.

Where these rules live

• Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.500 — Required disclosures
• Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.509 — Interrogatories to parties
• Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.512 — Production of documents and things
• Iowa R. Civ. P. 1.517 — Consequences of failure to make disclosures or discovery

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and what makes an opposition substantially justified is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.