Request for Admissions
For intangible proof, you can request admissions or denials of your factual statements in a Request for Admissions.
For example, in the example in Lesson #13, I could use this discovery method to request that my ex-wife admit that she testified under oath that her attorney had “graciously” waived his fees.
Here is a copy of a Request for Admissions
I will actually be making this request in an upcoming action in early-2016. If my ex-wife admits these statements, her admissions are my evidence to prove certain elements of my claim that she and her attorney defrauded the divorce court to obtain an order requiring me to pay nonexistent attorney’s fees. If she denies any of her statements, or any of my ‘averments,’ she will be questioned in depth on the witness stand.
Another purpose of a Request for Admissions is to obtain admissions of the genuineness of documents. Therefore, in my upcoming lawsuit against my ex-wife and her attorney, I will be sending the attorney a request for his admission that his Affidavit for Attorney’s Fees was genuine, which, since he knows it was not legitimate, will catch him in another perjury, as his admission will be made under penalty of perjury.
In Colorado, we are limited to 20 requests for admissions of statements, but we can make up to 50 requests for admissions of the genuineness of documents, copies of which we must attach to the request unless they were otherwise available for inspection and copying, i.e. unless we obtained copies of the adverse party’s documents during the request for production process.
The beauty of this discovery method, though, is that, for each request, the adverse party must answer, “admit,” “deny,” or e.g. “insufficient information or knowledge” (check your rules); when the adverse party fails to answer or to expressly deny or to object to any request, that matter is admitted for all purposes in the pending action; and any matter admitted in this fashion is “conclusively established” in the action, i.e. in my case, unless my ex-wife successfully objects, I will be able to tell the jury that she admitted to testifying on the witness stand that her attorney had “graciously” waived his fees.
Next, you’ll learn how to write and use Interrogatories.