Motion To Deem Requests For Admission (Set Three) Admitted
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Set for Law and Motion/Discovery Calendar on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, Line 6.
1 - PLAINTIFF GENOA MARTELL's Motion To Deem Requests For Admission (Set Three) Admitted. Plaintiff's motion to deem her Requests for Admission in Set Three admitted is DENIED. Plaintiff's request to deem her RFAs admitted is denied.
Defendant's responses to Plaintiff's Requests for Admission, Set Three were due on September 24, 2025, yet Defendant did not respond until October 8, 2025. If a party fails to timely respond to requests for admission, the party waives any objections to the requests and the truth of any matters specified in the requests may be deemed admitted. (CCP 2033.280(a)-(b).) However, the court does not deem requests for admission admitted if "it finds that the party to whom the requests for admission have been directed has served, before the hearing on the motion, a proposed response to the requests for admission that is in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220." (CCP 2033.280(c).)
Here, there is no dispute that Defendants did not timely respond to Plaintiff's requests for admission. However, the court finds that Defendants have properly served responses prior to the hearing, which are in substantial compliance with Section 2033.220. Plaintiff contends that to be in substantial compliance, statements of inability to respond must identify who was consulted, what repositories were searched, which vendors were contacted, and when the inquiry occurred. Section 2033.220 does not require that level of specificity, and the court finds that Defendant's responses are in substantial compliance.
As for sanctions, the circumstances before the court would make an award of sanctions unjust. Additionally, Plaintiff failed to give timely and proper notice of the amount sought. The court would award Plaintiff the filing fee, but she has a fee waiver.
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