St. Mary v. Superior Court
California Court of Appeal
167 Cal. Rptr. 3d 517 (2014)
Relevant factsFree
Lisa St. Mary (plaintiff), suing over the loss of her entire life savings invested with Cedar Funding, responded to requests for admission (RFAs) four days after her extension request was denied, mostly with simple "admit" or "deny" answers. The defendants, arguing the responses were legally deficient, moved to deem all the RFAs admitted; the trial court found 41 responses were not unequivocal and partially granted the motion, deeming those 41 admitted. St. Mary appealed.
IssueFree
Whether a motion to deem admitted unanswered requests for admission must be denied if the responding party serves substantially compliant responses prior to the motion hearing.