A request for admission is a type of written discovery that compels the insurance company to fulfill its obligation when it comes to fairly paying a personal injury case. The purpose of a request for admission is for one party to admit a fact that is acknowledged without any documents or testimony to help establish liability.
If a request for admission is denied, a personal injury lawyer may send a contention interrogatory in an attempt to proceed with further discovery into what the denials entail. A contention interrogatory involves asking the defendant that has denied a request for admission to state the facts, produce documents, and name all witnesses in support of the denial. The rules for requests for admissions are set out by the California Code of Civil Procedure Sections 2033.010 - 2033.080.
If a request for admission has been improperly denied by the insurance company and defense counsel, they may be held liable for the costs involved with proving that part of the personal injury case. The process will involve the other side being sanctioned by the court. This is generally represented in a dollar amount to prove the expenses involved in establishing the improperly denied fact. The sanction may be comprised of the costs of retaining an expert witness and the lawyer’s time to prove the fact in the case.