Asea, Inc. v. Southern Pac. Transp. Co.
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
669 F.2d 1242 (9th Cir. 1981)
The railroads (defendants) responded to Asea's (plaintiff) requests for admissions about how a shipped transformer was damaged by stating, after purported reasonable inquiry, that they could neither admit nor deny the matters, and answered related interrogatories as "not applicable"; the district court granted Asea's motion to deem the matters admitted after the railroads gave unsatisfactory hearing answers, but without first requiring an amended response.
Whether, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 36(a), a district court may order requests for admissions be deemed admitted if the responding party failed to admit or deny the matters despite the information being known or readily obtainable after reasonable inquiry.