Rule 4014.Request for Admission.

Official Note: The requirements of an answer are governed by this rule and not by Rule 1029(b).

Explanatory Note Prior Rule 4014 has been completely revised to conform to Fed. R.Civ.P. 36 as amended in 1970. The amendments make the following significant changes in present practice: (1) The scope of the requests is enlarged. The prior Rule permitted requests for admission only as to truth of any relevant matters of fact or the genuineness of any writing, agreement, or record. The revision will cover all matters within the scope of deposition Rules 4003.1 through 4003.5. This includes all matters that relate to the truth of any matter, but also to statements or opinions of fact or of the application of law to fact. (2) The request may be made on any party; the prior Rule limited the request to ‘‘adverse’’ par- ties. The plaintiff may serve a request on any defending party after the party has been served with original process. A defending party may serve a request on the plaintiff at any time after the action is commenced. (3) The respondent must answer or object. The answer must admit or deny in whole or in part. The form of a denial is clarified. Lack of information or knowledge is an insufficient denial, unless he avers that he has made reasonable inquiry and that the information available is still insufficient to enable him to admit or deny. Subdivision (b), unlike the Federal Rule, requires a sworn answer. The answer or the objections may be signed by the attorney. (4) The form of the denial will not be governed by Pleading Rule 1029(b). Subdivision (b) pro- vides that a denial shall 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 shall specify so much of it as is true and qualify or deny the remainder. Thus, a good faith general denial which would be insufficient under Rule 1029(b) might be sufficient here. (5) Where the respondent believes that a request for admission involves a genuine issue of fact for trial, this alone does not make the request objectionable. He must deny the matter or set forth rea- sons why he cannot admit or deny it. Sanction Rule 4019(d), which is specially mentioned in subdi- vision (b), provides that if, at trial, a party is required to prove that which should have been admitted, the expenses, including counsel fees, of proving such matters may be imposed upon the respondent unless the admission was of no substantial importance, or the request could have been held objection- able, or the respondent reasonably believed he could prevail at trial on the issue, or there was other good reason for the failure to admit. (6) The time periods for answer or objection are conformed to the Federal Rule and extended from 10 to 30 days or to 45 days after service of original process. (7) A specific procedure is provided in subdivision (c) for an early determination of the suffi- ciency of an answer or objection. The prior Rule provided no such determination before trial, and a party often came to trial uncertain whether the answer constituted an admission or denial. The amendment provides that the court may order the matter to be admitted or an amended answer to be served, or it may postpone the final determination of this issue to pretrial conferences or a designated time prior to trial. (8) Finally, subdivision (d) sets forth the terms under which an admission may be withdrawn or amended and the effect of possible prejudice to the inquirer from an amendment or withdrawal. It also contains the important condition that the admission is localized in the pending action and cannot be used against him in any other proceeding.