2033.010-2033.080
CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
SECTION 2033.010-2033.080
2033.010. Any party may obtain discovery within the scope delimited
by Chapters 2 (commencing with Section 2017.010) and 3 (commencing
with Section 2017.710), and subject to the restrictions set forth in
Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2019.010), by a written request
that any other party to the action admit the genuineness of specified
documents, or the truth of specified matters of fact, opinion
relating to fact, or application of law to fact. A request for
admission may relate to a matter that is in controversy between the
parties.
2033.020. (a) A defendant may make requests for admission by a
party without leave of court at any time.
(b) A plaintiff may make requests for admission by a party without
leave of court at any time that is 10 days after the service of the
summons on, or appearance by, that party, whichever occurs first.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), in an unlawful detainer
action or other proceeding under Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
1159) of Title 3 of Part 3, a plaintiff may make requests for
admission by a party without leave of court at any time that is five
days after service of the summons on, or appearance by, that party,
whichever occurs first.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (b) and (c), on motion with or
without notice, the court, for good cause shown, may grant leave to a
plaintiff to make requests for admission at an earlier time.
2033.030. (a) No party shall request, as a matter of right, that
any other party admit more than 35 matters that do not relate to the
genuineness of documents. If the initial set of admission requests
does not exhaust this limit, the balance may be requested in
subsequent sets.
(b) Unless a declaration as described in Section 2033.050 has been
made, a party need only respond to the first 35 admission requests
served that do not relate to the genuineness of documents, if that
party states an objection to the balance under Section 2033.230 on
the ground that the limit has been exceeded.
(c) The number of requests for admission of the genuineness of
documents is not limited except as justice requires to protect the
responding party from unwarranted annoyance, embarrassment,
oppression, or undue burden and expense.
2033.040. (a) Subject to the right of the responding party to seek
a protective order under Section 2033.080, any party who attaches a
supporting declaration as described in Section 2033.050 may request a
greater number of admissions by another party if the greater number
is warranted by the complexity or the quantity of the existing and
potential issues in the particular case.
(b) If the responding party seeks a protective order on the ground
that the number of requests for admission is unwarranted, the
propounding party shall have the burden of justifying the number of
requests for admission.
2033.050. Any party who is requesting or who has already requested
more than 35 admissions not relating to the genuineness of documents
by any other party shall attach to each set of requests for
admissions a declaration containing substantially the following
words:
DECLARATION FOR ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY
I, __________, declare:
1. I am (a party to this action or proceeding appearing in propria
persona) (presently the attorney for __________, a party to this
action or proceeding).
2. I am propounding to __________ the attached set of requests for
admission.
3. This set of requests for admission will cause the total number
of requests propounded to the party to whom they are directed to
exceed the number of requests permitted by Section 2033.030 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.
4. I have previously propounded a total of __________ requests for
admission to this party.
5. This set of requests for admission contains a total of
__________ requests.
6. I am familiar with the issues and the previous discovery
conducted by all of the parties in this case.
7. I have personally examined each of the requests in this set of
requests for admission.
8. This number of requests for admission is warranted under
Section 2033.040 of the Code of Civil Procedure because __________.
(Here state the reasons why the complexity or the quantity of issues
in the instant lawsuit warrant this number of requests for
admission.)
9. None of the requests in this set of requests is being
propounded for any improper purpose, such as to harass the party, or
the attorney for the party, to whom it is directed, or to cause
unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation.
I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of California
that the foregoing is true and correct, and that this declaration was
executed on __________.
__________________________________________________
(Signature)
Attorney for _____________________________________
2033.060. (a) A party requesting admissions shall number each set
of requests consecutively.
(b) In the first paragraph immediately below the title of the
case, there shall appear the identity of the party requesting the
admissions, the set number, and the identity of the responding party.
(c) Each request for admission in a set shall be separately set
forth and identified by letter or number.
(d) Each request for admission shall be full and complete in and
of itself. No preface or instruction shall be included with a set of
admission requests unless it has been approved under Chapter 17
(commencing with Section 2033.710).
(e) Any term specially defined in a request for admission shall be
typed with all letters capitalized whenever the term appears.
(f) No request for admission shall contain subparts, or a
compound, conjunctive, or disjunctive request unless it has been
approved under Chapter 17 (commencing with Section 2033.710).
(g) A party requesting an admission of the genuineness of any
documents shall attach copies of those documents to the requests, and
shall make the original of those documents available for inspection
on demand by the party to whom the requests for admission are
directed.
(h) No party shall combine in a single document requests for
admission with any other method of discovery.
2033.070. The party requesting admissions shall serve a copy of
them on the party to whom they are directed and on all other parties
who have appeared in the action.
2033.080. (a) When requests for admission have been made, the
responding party may promptly move for a protective order. This
motion shall be accompanied by a meet and confer declaration under
Section 2016.040.
(b) The court, for good cause shown, may make any order that
justice requires to protect any party from unwarranted annoyance,
embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden and expense. This
protective order may include, but is not limited to, one or more of
the following directions:
(1) That the set of admission requests, or particular requests in
the set, need not be answered at all.
(2) That, contrary to the representations made in a declaration
submitted under Section 2033.050, the number of admission requests is
unwarranted.
(3) That the time specified in Section 2033.250 to respond to the
set of admission requests, or to particular requests in the set, be
extended.
(4) That a trade secret or other confidential research,
development, or commercial information not be admitted or be admitted
only in a certain way.
(5) That some or all of the answers to requests for admission be
sealed and thereafter opened only on order of the court.
(c) If the motion for a protective order is denied in whole or in
part, the court may order that the responding party provide or permit
the discovery against which protection was sought on terms and
conditions that are just.
(d) The court shall impose a monetary sanction under Chapter 7
(commencing with Section 2023.010) against any party, person, or
attorney who unsuccessfully makes or opposes a motion for a
protective order under this section, unless it finds that the one
subject to the sanction acted with substantial justification or that
other circumstances make the imposition of the sanction unjust.