If a party fails to admit the genuineness of any document or the truth of any matter as requested under Article 1466, and if the party requesting the admissions thereafter proves the genuineness of the document or the truth of the matter, he may apply to the court for an order requiring the other party to pay him the reasonable expenses incurred in making that proof, including reasonable attorney's fees. The court shall make the order unless it finds that the request was held objectionable pursuant to Article 1467, or the admission sought was of no substantial importance, or the party failing to admit had reasonable ground to believe that he might prevail on the matter, or there was other good reason for the failure to admit.
Art. 1472.Failure to Admit; Expenses
Book II. Ordinary Proceedings · Title III. Production of Evidence · Chapter 3. Discovery · Enacted 1976 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 1472 lets a party recover the cost of proving at trial something the other side wrongly refused to admit, unless the refusal falls within one of four narrow excuses the court can accept.
Full Text of Art. 1472
Amendment History
Acts 1976, No. 574, §1.
Plain-English Summary
Requests for admission are supposed to narrow a case, and Article 1472 backs that purpose with a financial consequence. If a party refuses to admit the genuineness of a document or the truth of a matter requested under Article 1466, and the requesting party later goes on to prove that document genuine or that matter true at trial, the requesting party can ask the court for an order requiring the other side to pay the reasonable expenses of that proof, including reasonable attorney's fees.
The award isn't discretionary in the ordinary sense -- the court has to grant it -- unless one of four specific excuses applies: the request was itself objectionable under Article 1467, the admission sought carried no substantial importance to the case, the party refusing to admit had reasonable grounds to believe it might prevail on the point, or there was some other good reason for the refusal. Absent one of those, refusing to admit something that later turns out to be true costs the refusing party the price of proving it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I recover if the other side wrongly denied a fact I later proved?
The reasonable expenses, including reasonable attorney's fees, that it cost you to prove the fact or the document's genuineness at trial.
Is this expense award automatic once I prove the point at trial?
The court has to grant it unless one of four listed excuses applies to the other side's refusal.
What excuses let a party off the hook for a wrongful denial?
The request was objectionable under Article 1467, the admission had no substantial importance, the party had reasonable grounds to believe it might prevail, or there was other good reason for the failure to admit.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure (legis.la.gov). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: failure to admit expensescost of proof sanctionwrongful denial of RFAexpenses for proving a matter