effective January 1, 2011
Requests to admit under Supreme Court Rule 216 have gone from relative obscurity to overwhelming popularity in the last decade. This leap into the limelight was mainly due to the development of case law that allowed requests to be deemed admitted for technical violations including minor tardiness or improper signature; thus potentially ending cases without a trial on the merits.
The harshest results were curbed in 2007 when the Illinois high court permitted trial courts to accept late or deficient answers to requests to admit under a variety of circumstances. The court emphasized allowing the circuit courts to exercise their sound discretion over the course and conduct of the pretrial discovery process. Trial courts may now find good cause under Rule 183 for mistake, inadvertence, or attorney neglect.
Effective January 1, 2011, compliance with Rule 216 will be more transparent going forward. The number of requests is limited to 30 unless otherwise agreed or ordered by the court. The requests to admit must contain a warning specifically prescribed in the rule regarding the consequences of non-compliance. Third, the requests must be served separately from other discovery requests—not buried so that opposing counsel misses the deadline and the request are deemed admitted. Rule 216 still requires answers within 28 days under the verified signature of the party to whom it is directed—not his or her attorney. It is anticipated that these changes will promote the proper use of Rule 216 to narrow the issues in the case and proceed more swiftly to final disposition.
View Rule 216. Admission of Fact or of Genuineness of Documents
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