Virginia requests for admission: thirty, counting parts and subparts

Virginia is one of the few states that puts a number on requests for admission. The number is thirty, it counts subparts, it counts across the whole case rather than per set — and one whole category of request sits outside it entirely.

Thirty, and the two words that make it bite

Rule 4:11(e)(1):

Unless all parties agree, or the court grants leave for good cause shown, no party may serve upon any other party, at any one time or cumulatively, more than 30 requests for admission, including all parts and subparts, that do not relate to the genuineness of documents.

Three limits are packed into that sentence, and two of them are what turn a generous-sounding number into a real constraint.

"Including all parts and subparts." A request that asks a party to admit three propositions is three requests, however it is numbered. Drafting compound requests to stay under the cap does not work here, and it invites an argument about the count on top of everything else.

"At any one time or cumulatively." The cap is not per set. Thirty is the total for the case, so a party that serves twenty-five early has five left, not twenty-five more with the next round.

The escape routes are agreement of all parties, or leave of court for good cause. And the rule tells the court how to approach the request:

Leave to propound additional requests should be liberally granted in the interests of justice.

That is an unusually favorable standard for a party seeking more. The cap is real, but the rule does not intend it to be a trap — it intends the extra requests to be justified rather than assumed.

Document genuineness is not capped

Rule 4:11(e)(2) puts an entire category outside the limit:

The number of requests for admissions relating to the genuineness of documents will not be limited unless the court enters a protective order pursuant to the provisions of Rule 4:1 (c) upon a finding that justice so requires in order to protect the responding party from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense.

So a case turning on two hundred documents can put all two hundred to the other side. The only brake is a protective order, and it requires a finding on the listed grounds.

This shapes how the thirty should be spent. Authenticity questions cost nothing against the cap; propositions of fact and applications of law to fact are the scarce resource. A well-planned Virginia set separates the two and uses the capped thirty on the matters that actually narrow the trial.

Twenty-one days, twenty-eight for a defendant

Rule 4:11(a) states the deadline:

The matter is admitted unless, within 21 days after service of the request, or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow, 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 by his attorney, but, unless the court shortens the time, a defendant is not required to serve answers or objections before the expiration of 28 days after service of the complaint upon him.

Twenty-one days is the shortest response period on this site, and twenty-eight is the defendant's floor. Virginia's discovery deadlines sets those figures against interrogatories and document requests.

Requests may be served on the plaintiff after commencement and on any other party with or after service of the complaint. Each matter must be separately set forth, and copies of documents are served with the request unless already furnished or made available.

Only what is offered in evidence becomes part of the record

Rule 4:11(c) and (d) deal with paper, and the second is easy to overlook:

(c) Filing. — Except as provided in Rules 3:3 and 1:17, requests for admissions and answers or objections should be served and filed as provided in Rule 4:8. (d) Part of Record. — Only such requests for admissions and the answers thereto as are offered in evidence become a part of the record.

Filed, but not automatically in the record. The distinction matters on appeal and on any motion decided on the record: an admission that was never offered in evidence is not part of it.

A party relying on an admission — in a summary judgment motion, at trial, or in defending a judgment — has to put it in, not merely point to the file.

Answering: deny, or explain why you cannot

The answer requirements follow the familiar pattern, and Virginia states them firmly:

The answer must specifically deny the matter or set forth in detail the reasons why the answering party cannot truthfully admit or deny the matter. A denial must fairly meet the substance of the requested admission, and when good faith requires that a party qualify his answer or deny only a part of the matter of which an admission is requested, he must specify so much of it as is true and qualify or deny the remainder.

Lack of knowledge is permitted only with a statement that the party "has made reasonable inquiry and that the information known or readily obtainable by him is insufficient to enable him to admit or deny."

Objections must carry reasons — "If objection is made, the reasons therefor must be stated" — and the objection that a request goes to a contested issue is unavailable:

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; he may, subject to the provisions of Rule 4:12 (c), deny the matter or set forth reasons why he cannot admit or deny it.

Rule 4:12(c) is the failure-to-admit expenses provision, so the cross-reference is a warning as much as a permission: denying is allowed, and a denial that has to be disproved can be paid for.

Testing an answer, and what the court can do

The requesting party "may move to determine the sufficiency of the answers or objections," and the two outcomes differ:

Unless the court determines that an objection is justified, it will order that an answer be served. If the court determines that an answer does not comply with the requirements of this Rule, it may order either that the matter is admitted or that an amended answer be served. The court may, in lieu of these orders, determine that final disposition of the request be made at a pretrial conference or at a designated time prior to trial.

A failed objection produces an order to answer. A non-compliant answer can produce an admission. Expenses on the motion are governed by Rule 4:12(a)(4).

Withdrawal, and the pretrial order

Rule 4:11(b) makes an admission "conclusively established," then states the test with a cross-reference that can tighten it:

Subject to the provisions of Rule 4:13 governing amendment of a pretrial order, the court 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 court that withdrawal or amendment will prejudice him in maintaining his action or defense on the merits.

Two things to take from it. Prejudice is for the party holding the admission to establish — the rule frames it as that party's failure to satisfy the court. And once a pretrial order under Rule 4:13 is in place, its own amendment standard applies on top.

Admissions are confined to the case: an admission "is for the purpose of the pending action only and is not an admission by him for any other purpose nor may it be used against him in any other proceeding."

A short checklist

If you are serving requests:

1. Count parts and subparts, not numbered paragraphs. Thirty is thirty.
2. Track the running total across the case; the cap is cumulative.
3. Put document genuineness in a separate set. Those are not capped.
4. Ask for leave early if you need more — the rule says leave should be liberally granted.
5. Offer admissions in evidence if you intend to rely on them; filing is not enough.
6. Move on a non-compliant answer; that is the route that can produce an admission.

If you are responding:

1. Calendar 21 days, or 28 from the complaint if you are a defendant and that is later.
2. Count the requests against you. A set that exceeds thirty with subparts is a point worth taking.
3. State reasons for every objection, and do not object on "genuine issue for trial" alone.
4. Answer plainly. An evasive denial can become an admission, and Rule 4:12(c) prices a wrong one.

Where these rules live

• Va. Sup. Ct. R. 4:11 — Requests for admission
• Responding to a Virginia complaint
• Virginia discovery deadlines
• Virginia motion to compel discovery
• Virginia summary judgment
• Virginia TROs and preliminary injunctions

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and how parts and subparts are counted in a particular set is a question this page does not answer.